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Phoenician  colonies  on 
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Tbe  Edmtlu-g'K  Geographical  lasdtule 


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HISTORICAL    GEOGRa¥h¥ 


OF     Til  E 


HOLY    LAND 

ESPECIALLY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  HISTORY 
OF  ISRAEL  AND  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 


JiY 


GEORGE    ADAM    SMITH,    D.D. 

PROFESSOR  Oh'  HEBREW  AND  OLD  TESTAMENT  EXEGESIS 
FREE  CHURCH  COLLEGE.  GLASGOW 


IF/TB  SIX  MAPS 


NEW    YORK 
A.    C.    ARMSTRONG    A  N  D    S  O  N 

51   EAST  TENTH  STREET 

1895 


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PREFACE 

There  are  many  ways  of  writing  a  geography  of  Palestine, 
and  of  illustrating  the  History  by  the  Land,  but  some  are 
wearisome  and  some  are  vain.  They  do  not  give  a  vision 
of  the  land  as  a  whole,  nor  help  you  to  hear  through  it  the 
sound  of  running  history.  What  is  needed  by  the  reader 
or  teacher  of  the  Bible  is  some  idea  of  the  main  outlines  of 
Palestine — its  shape  and  disposition  ;  its  plains,  passes  and 
mountains  ;  its  rains,  winds  and  temperatures  ;  its  colours, 
lights  and  shades.  Students  of  the  Bible  desire  to  see  a 
background  and  to  feel  an  atmosphere — to  discover  from 
*  the  lie  of  the  land  '  why  the  history  took  certain  lines  and 
the  prophecy  and  gospel  were  expressed  in  certain  styles 
— to  learn  what  geography  has  to  contribute  to  questions 
of  Biblical  criticism — above  all,  to  discern  between  what 
physical  nature  contributed  to  the  religious  development 
of  Israel,  and  what  was  the  product  of  purely  moral 
and  spiritual  forces.  On  this  last  point  the  geography 
of  the  Holy  Land  reaches  its  highest  interest.  It  is 
also  good  to  realise  the  historical  influences  by  which 
our  religion  was  at  first  nurtured  or  exercised,  as  far 
as  we  can  do  this  from  the  ruins  which  these  have  left 
in  the  country.  To  go  no  further  back  than  the  New 
Testament — there   are   the   Greek   art,  the   Roman    rule, 


viii   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  the  industry  and  pride  of  Herod.  But  the  remains  of 
Scripture  times  are  not  so  many  as  the  remains  of  the 
centuries  since.  The  Palestine  of  to-day,  as  I  have  said 
further  on,  is  more  a  museum  of  Church  history  than  of 
the  Bible — a  museum  full  of  living  as  well  as  of  ancient 
specimens  of  its  subject.  East  of  Jordan,  in  the  in- 
destructible basalt  of  Hauran,  there  are  monuments  of 
the  passage  from  Paganism  to  Christianity  even  more 
numerous  and  remarkable  than  the  catacombs  or  earliest 
Churches  of  Rome  ;  there  are  also  what  Italy  cannot  give 
us — the  melancholy  wrecks  of  the  passage  from  Christianity 
to  Mohammedanism.  On  the  west  of  the  Jordan  there 
are  the  castles  and  churches  of  the  Crusaders,  the  im- 
pression of  their  brief  kingdom  and  its  ruin.  There  is  the 
trail  of  the  march  and  retreat  of  Napoleon.  And,  then, 
after  the  long  silence  and  crumbling  of  all  things  native, 
there  are  the  living  churches  of  to-day,  and  the  lines  of 
pilgrims  coming  up  to  Jerusalem  from  the  four  corners  of 
the  world. 

For  a  historical  geography  compassing  such  a  survey, 
the  conditions  are  to-day  three — personal  acquaintance 
with  the  land  ;  a  study  of  the  exploration,  discoveries  and 
decipherments,  especially  of  the  last  twenty  years  ;  and 
the  employment  of  the  results  of  Biblical  criticism  during 
the  same  period. 

I.  The  following  chapters  have  been  written  after  two 
visits  to  the  Holy  Land.  In  the  spring  of  1880  I  made  a 
journey  through  Judaea,  Samaria,  Esdraelon,  and  Galilee : 


Preface  ix 

that  was  before  the  great  changes  which  have  been  produced 
on  many  of  the  most  sacred  landscapes  by  European 
colonists,  and  by  the  rivalry  in  building  between  the  Greek 
and  Latin  Churches.  Again,  in  1891,  I  was  able  to  extend 
my  knowledge  of  the  country  to  the  Maritime  Plain,  the 
Shephelah,  the  wilderness  of  Judaea,  including  Masada  and 
Engedi,  the  Jordan  Valley,  Hermon,  the  Beka',  and  espe- 
cially to  Damascus,  Hauran,  Gilead,  and  Moab.  Unfor- 
tunately— in  consequence  of  taking  Druze  servants,  we 
were  told — we  were  turned  back  by  the  authorities  from 
Bosra  and  the  Jebel  Druz,  so  that  I  cannot  write  from 
personal  acquaintance  with  those  interesting  localities,  but 
we  spent  the  more  time  in  the  villages  of  Hauran,  and 
at  Gadara,  Gerasa  and  Pella,  where  we  were  able  to  add 
to  the  number  of  discovered  inscriptions. 

2.  With  the  exception  of  the  results  of  early  geographers, 
admirabl}'  summarised  by  Reland,  the  renewal  of  Syrian 
travel  in  the  beginning  of  this  century,  and  the  great  work 
of  Robinson  fifty  years  ago — the  real  exploration  of  Pales- 
tine has  been  achieved  during  the  last  twenty  years.  It 
has  been  the  work  of  no  one  nation  ;  its  effectiveness  is  due 
to  its  thoroughly  international  character.  America  gave  the 
pioneers  in  Robinson,  Smith,  and  Lynch.  To  Great  Britain 
belong,  through  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund — by 
Wilson,  Warren,  Drake,  Tristram,  Conder,  Kitchener, 
Mantell,  Black  and  Armstrong — the  splendid  results  of 
a  trigonometrical  survey  of  all  Western,  and  part  of 
Eastern,  Palestine,  a  geological  survey,  the  excavations  at 


X        The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Jerusalem  and  Tell  el  Hesy,  very  numerous  discoveries 
and  identifications,  and  the  earliest  summaries  of  natural 
history  and  meteorology.  But  we  cannot  forget  that  this 
work  was  prepared  for,  and  has  been  supplemented  in 
its  defects,  both  by  French  and  Germans.  The  French 
have  been  first  in  the  departments  of  art  and  archaeology 
— witness  Waddington,  Renan,  De  Voglie,  De  Saulcy, 
Clermont-Ganneau,  and  Rey.  In  topography,  also,  through 
Guerin  and  others,  the  French  contributions  have  been 
important.  To  Germany  we  owe  many  travels  and  re- 
searches, which,  like  Wetzstein's,  have  added  to  the  geo- 
graphy, especially  of  Eastern  Palestine.  The  Germans 
have  also  given  what  has  been  too  much  lacking  in  Britain, 
a  scientific  treatment  of  the  geography  in  the  light  of 
Biblical  criticism  :  in  this  respect  the  work  of  Socin,  Guthe, 
and  their  colleagues  in  the  Deutsches  Palastina-Verein,  has 
been  most  thorough  and  full  of  example  to  ourselves.  The 
notes  in  this  volume  will  show  how  much  I  have  been 
indebted  to  material  provided  by  the  journals  of  both  the 
British  and  German  societies,  as  well  as  to  other  works 
issued  under  their  auspices.  I  have  not  been  able  to  use 
any  of  the  records  of  the  corresponding  Russian  society. 
Recent  American  literature  on  Palestine  is  valuable,  chiefly 
for  the  works  of  Merrill,  Trumbull  and  Clay. 

But  the  most  distinctive  feature  of  the  work  of  the  last 
twenty  years  has  been  the  aid  rendered  by  the  European 
inhabitants  of  Syria.  Doctors  and  missionaries,  the  chil- 
dren   of  the    first   German    colonists   and   of  the  earlier 


Preface  xi 

American  missionaries,  have  grown  into  a  familiarity  with 
the  country,  which  the  most  expert  of  foreign  explorers 
cannot  hope  to  rival.  Through  the  British  and  German 
societies,  Chaplin,  Schumacher,  Schick,  Gatt,  Fischer  of 
Sarona,  Klein,  Hanauer,  Baldensperger,  Post,  West  and 
Bliss  have  contributed  so  immense  an  amount  of  topo- 
graphical detail,  nomenclature,  meteorology  and  informa- 
tion concerning  the  social  life  of  the  country,  that  there 
seems  to  lie  rather  a  century  than  a  score  of  years  between 
the  present  condition  of  Syriology  and  that  which  pre- 
vailed when  we  were  wholly  dependent  on  the  records  of 
passing  travellers  and  pilgrims. 

During  recent  years  a  very  great  deal  has  been  done 
for  the  geography  of  Palestine  from  the  side  of  Assyrian 
and  Egyptian  studies,  such  as  by  the  younger  Delitzsch, 
Maspero,  Sayce,  Tomkins,  and  especially  W.  Max  MUller, 
whose  recent  work,  Asien  u.  Europa  7tack  den  alt-dgypti- 
schen  Denkmdlern,  has  so  materially  altered  and  increased 
the  Egyptian  data.  I  need  not  dwell  here  on  the  informa- 
tion afforded  by  the  Tell-el-Amarna  tablets  as  to  the 
condition  of  Palestine  before  the  coming  of  Israel, 

On  the  Roman  and  Greek  periods  there  have  appeared 
during  recent  years  the  works  of  Mommsen,  Mahaffy, 
Morrison,  Neubauer,  Niese's  new  edition  of  Josephus, 
Boettger's  topographical  Lexicon  to  Josephus,  the  collec- 
tion of  Nabatean  inscriptions  in  the  Corpus  Inscriptionum 
Semiticarum,  and  Schiirer's  monumental  History  of  the 
Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Christ.     I   have  constantly 


xii      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

referred  to  the  latter  on  the  Maccabean  and  Herodian 
periods ;  and  where  I  have  ventured  to  differ  from  his 
geographical  conclusions  it  has  always  been  with  hesitation. 

The  last  fifteen  years  have  also  seen  the  collection  and 
re-publication  of  the  immense  pilgrim  literature  on  Pales- 
tine, a  more  thorough  research  into  the  Arab  geographies, 
of  which  Mr.  Guy  Le  Strange's  Palestine  under  the 
Moslems  affords  the  English  reader  so  valuable  a  sum- 
mary, and  a  number  of  works  on  the  Crusades  and  the 
Frank  occupation  and  organisation  of  Palestine,  of  which 
the  chief  are  those  of  Rey,  Rohricht  and  Prutz.  The 
great  French  collection  of  the  Historians  of  the  Crusades, 
begun  as  far  back  as  1843,  largely  falls  within  this 
generation. 

From  one  source,  which  hitherto  has  been  unused,  I 
have  derived  great  help.  I  mean  Napoleon's  invasion  of 
Syria  and  his  conduct  of  modern  war  upon  its  ancient 
battle-fields.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  follow  Napoleon  on 
the  routes  taken  by  Thothmes,  Sennacherib,  Alexander, 
Vespasian,  and  the  Crusaders,  amidst  the  same  difficulties 
of  forage  and  locomotion,  and  against  pretty  much  the 
same  kind  of  enemies ;  and  I  am  surprised  that  no 
geographer  of  the  country  has  availed  himself  of  the 
opportunity  which  is  afforded  by  the  full  records  of 
Napoleon's  Asiatic  campaign,  and  by  the  journals  of  the 
British  officers,  attached  to  the  Turkish  army  which  fol- 
lowed up  his  retreat. 

Of  all  these  materials  I    have  made  such  use  as  con- 


I 


Preface  xiii 

tributed  to  the  aim  of  this  work.  I  have  added  very  few 
original  topographical  suggestions.  I  have  felt  that  just 
at  present  the  geographer  of  Palestine  is  more  usefully 
employed  in  reducing  than  in  adding  to  the  identifications 
of  sites.  In  Britain  our  surveyors  have  been  tempted  to 
serious  over-identification,  perhaps  by  the  zeal  of  a  portion 
of  the  religious  public,  which  subscribes  to  exploration 
according  to  the  number  of  immediate  results.  In  Ger- 
many, where  they  scorn  us  for  this,  the  same  temptation 
has  been  felt,  though  from  other  causes,  and  the  Zeitschrift 
des  Deutschen  Palastina-Vereins  has  almost  as  many  rash 
proposals  as  the  Quarterly  Statement,  and  Old  and  New 
Testament  Maps,  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund.  I 
have,  therefore,  ignored  a  number  of  identifications  and 
contested  a  number  more.  If  the  following  pages  leave 
the  reader  with  many  problems  stated  rather  than  solved, 
this  has  been  done  of  purpose.  The  work  of  explorers 
and  critics  has  secured  an  enormous  number  of  results 
which  cannot  be  reasonably  doubted.  But  in  many  other 
cases  what  has  been  achieved  is  simply  the  collection  of 
all  the  evidence  that  exists  above-ground — evidence  which 
is  conflicting,  and  can  be  settled  only  by  such  further 
excavations  as  Messrs.  Flinders  Petrie  and  Bliss  have  so 
happily  inaugurated  at  Tell-el-Hesy.  The  exploration,  of 
Western  Palestine  at  least,  is  almost  exhausted  on  the 
surface,  but  there  is  a  great  future  for  it  under-ground. 
We  have  run  most  of  the  questions  to  earth  :  it  only 
remains  to  dig  them  up. 


xiv     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

3.  But  an  equally  strong  reason  for  the  appearance  at  this 
time  of  a  Historical  Geography  of  Palestine  is  the  recent 
progress  of  Biblical  Criticism.  The  relation  of  the  geo- 
graphical materials  at  our  disposal,  and  the  methods  of 
historical  reconstruction,  have  been  wholly  altered  by  Old 
Testament  science,  since,  for  instance,  Dean  Stanley  wrote 
his  Sinai  and  Palestine.  That  part  of  criticism  which 
consists  of  the  distinction  and  appreciation  of  the  various 
documents,  of  which  the  Books  of  Scripture  are  composed, 
has  especially  contributed  to  the  elucidation  and  arrange- 
ment of  geographical  details  in  the  history  of  Israel,  which 
without  it  had  been  left  by  archseology  in  obscurity.  I 
heartily  agree  with  most  of  what  is  said  on  the  duty  of 
regulating  the  literary  criticism  of  the  Bible  by  the 
archaeology  of  Syria  and  the  neighbouring  countries,  but 
we  must  remember  there  is  a  converse  duty  as.  well.  We 
have  had  too  many  instances  of  the  embarrassment  and 
confusion  into  which  archseology  and  geography  lead 
us,  apart  from  the  new  methods  of  Biblical  Criticism. 
And  to  those  among  us  who  are  distrustful  of  the  latter,  I 
would  venture  to  say  that  there  is  no  sphere  in  which  the 
helpfulness  of  recent  criticism,  in  removing  difficulties  and 
explaining  contradictions,  has  been  more  apparent  than 
in  the  sphere  of  Biblical  Geography.  In  this  volume  I 
have  felt  forced  by  geographical  evidence  to  contest  some  of 
the  textual  and  historical  conclusions  of  recent  critics,  both 
in  this  country  and  in  Germany,  but  I  have  fully  accepted 
the  critical  methods,  and  I  believe  this  to  be  the  first  geo- 


Preface  xv 

graphy  of  the  Holy  Land  in  which  they  are  employed. 
In  fact,  at  this  time  of  day,  it  would  be  simply  futile  to 
think  of  writing  the  geography  of  Palestine  on  any  other 
principles. 

It  is  as  a  provisional  attempt  to  collect  old  and  new 
material  from  all  these  sources  that  I  offer  the  following 
pages.  I  have  not  aimed  at  exhausting  the  details  of  the 
subject,  but  I  have  tried  to  lay  down  what  seem  to  me 
the  best  lines  both  for  the  arrangement  of  what  has  been 
already  acquired,  and  for  the  fitting  on  to  it  of  what  may 
still  be  discovered.  There  are  a  few  omissions  which  the 
reader  will  notice.  I  have  entirely  excluded  the  topo- 
graphy of  Jerusalem,  the  geography  of  Phoenicia,  and  the 
geography  of  Lebanon.  This  has  been  because  I  have 
never  visited  Phoenicia,  because  Lebanon  lies  properly 
outside  the  Holy  Land,  and  because  an  adequate  topo- 
graphy of  Jerusalem,  while  not  contributing  to  the  general 
aim  of  the  volume,  would  have  unduly  increased  the  size 
of  a  work  which  is  already  too  great.  I  was  anxious  to 
give  as  much  space  as  possible  to  Eastern  Palestine,  of 
which  we  have  had  hitherto  no  complete  geography. 

Portions  of  Chapters  VII,  VIII,  XII-XIV,  and  XX,  most 
of  Chapters  X,  XV-XVII,  XIX,  and  XXI,  and  all  Chapter 
XVIII,  have  already  appeared  in  The  Expositor  for  1892-93. 

With  regard  to  maps,  this  volume  has  been  written 
with  the  use  of  what  must  be  for  a  long  time  the  finest 
illustration  of  the   geography  of  Palestine — the  English 

h 


xvi    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Survey  Maps,  both  the  large  map  of  Western  Palestine,  on 
the  scale  of  an  inch  to  the  mile,  and  the  reduced  map  of 
all  Palestine  on  the  scale  of  three-eighths  of  an  inch  to 
the  mile.  The  latter,  in  its  editions  of  1891  ff.,  though  over- 
crowded by  '  identifications,'  is  by  far  the  most  useful  map 
ever  published  for  students  or  travellers  :  one  might  call  it 
indispensable.  Mr.  Armstrong  has  lately  put  this  map 
into  relief;  the  result  is  a  most  correct,  clear  and  impres- 
sive reproduction  of  the  shape  and  physical  varieties  of 
the  land.  If  students  desire  a  cheap  small  map,  brought 
down  to  date,  they  will  find  it  in  Fischer  and  Guthe's  ad- 
mirable map  of  Palestine,  published  by  the  German  society. 
The  six  maps  for  this  volume  have  been  specially 
prepared  by  the  eminent  cartographer,  Mr.  John  George 
Bartholomew,  of  Edinburgh,  and  my  hearty  thanks  are 
due  to  him  for  the  care  and  impressiveness  with  which 
he  has  produced  them.  The  large  map  and  the  three 
sectional  ones  (the  latter  on  the  scale  of  four  miles 
to  an  inch)  have  this  distinction,  that  they  are  the 
first  orographical  maps  of  Palestine,  representing  the 
whole  lie  and  lift  of  the  land  by  gradations  of  colour. 
The  little  sketch-map  on  p.  5 1  is  to  illustrate  the  chapter 
on  the  form  and  divisions  of  the  land  :  while  the  map  of 
the  Semitic  World  has  been  prepared,  under  my  directions, 
to  illustrate  Syria's  place  in  history,  and  her  influence 
westwards.  Through  the  courtesy  of  the  engineers,  Mr. 
Bartholomew  has  been  able  to  indicate  the  line  of  the  new 
Acca-Damascus  Railway. 


Preface  xvii 

During  my  work  on  this  volume,  I  have  keenly  felt  the 
want,  in  English,  of  a  good  historical  atlas  of  the  Holy 
Land.  I  have  designed  one  such,  containing  from  thirty 
to  forty  maps,  and  covering  the  history  of  Syria  from  the 
earliest  epochs  to  the  Crusades  and  the  present  century ; 
and  preparations  are  being  made  by  Mr.  Bartholomew 
and  myself  for  its  publication  by  Messrs.  Hodder  and 
Stoughton. 

In  conclusion,  I  have  to  thank,  for  help  rendered  me  at 
various  times,  both  in  travel  and  in  study,  Dr.  Selah 
Merrill ;  Rev.  W.  Ewing,  late  of  Tiberias,  whose  collec- 
tion of  inscriptions  is  promised  by  the  Exploration 
Fund ;  Dr.  Mackinnon  and  Rev.  Stewart  Crawford  of 
Damascus  ;  Rev.  Henry  Sykes  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  at  Es-Salt  ;  Rev.  C.  A.  Scott  of  Willesden  ;  and 
Professors  Ramsay  and  Kennedy  of  Aberdeen.  I  have 
been  greatly  assisted  by  two  collections  of  works  on  the 
Holy  Land  :  that  made  by  Tischendorf,  now  in  possession 
of  the  Free  Church  College,  Glasgow ;  and  that  made 
by  the  late  Mr.  M'Grigor  of  Glasgow,  now  in  the  Library 
of  Glasgow  University. 

My  wife  has  revised  all  the  proofs  of  this  volume,  and, 
with  a  friend,  prepared  the  Index. 

GEORGE  ADAM  SMITH. 

2%th  April  1894. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

In  this  Second  Edition  I  have  corrected  some  misprints 
and  a  few  other  errors,  chiefly  of  citation.  The  Index  has 
been  revised.  I  have  also  printed  a  number  of  Additional 
Notes  :  those  to  Chapter  IX.  will  be  found  at  the  end  of 
that  chapter,  and  all  the  rest  at  the  end  of  the  volume 
before  the  Index.  Some  of  these  Additional  Notes  have 
been  rendered  necessary  by  changes  which  have  taken 
place  this  summer  in  the  political  organisation  of  Eastern 
Syria.  (See  p.  535.)  Others  are  due  to  further  reading 
on  my  own  part,  or  to  the  suggestion  of  reviewers  and  of 
friends  who  have  privately  communicated  with  me.  The 
names  of  these  will  be  found  under  the  relevant  notes.  I 
have  heartily  to  thank  them  for  the  kindness  and  helpful- 
ness of  their  criticisms. 

I  may  here  give  some  corrigenda  for  the  Maps — 

On  Plate  I.  delete  '^non'  on  the  Jordan  Valley,  and  trace  a  branch 
road  from  Ashdod  by  Ekron  to  Ramleh.  Put  a  mark  of  interro- 
gation after  Gath.  For  El-Lejjah  read  El-Lej^.  See  Additional 
Note  on  pp.  672-673. 

On  Plate  IV.  trace  branch  road  from  Ashdod  by  Burkah  and 
Beshshit  to  Ekron  and  Ramleh. 

On  Plate  V.  delete  '  Brook  Cherith '  and  '  ^non.' 

On  Plate  VI.  on  the  surface  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  for  *  882  feet 
below  the  Mediterranean  Sea,'  read  682. 

GEORGE  ADAM  SMITH. 

Odoher  1894. 


CONTENTS 


PREFACE,  .... 
LIST  OF  PLATES, 
CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE,       . 
LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS,  Etc., 


PAGE 

vii 
xxii 
xxiii 

XXV 


Book  L— THE  LAND  AS  A  WHOLE 

^AP. 

I.  The  Place  of  Syria  in  the  World's  History, 

1.  The  Relation  of  Syria  to  Arabia, 

2.  The  Relation  of  Syria  to  the  Three  Continents, 

3.  Syria's  Opportunity  Westward,  .  . 

4.  The  Religion  of  Syria, 

II.  The  Form  of  the  Land  and  its  Historical  Con 

SEQUENCES,        ..... 

III.  The  Climate   and  Fertility  of  the  Land,  with 

their  Effects  on  its  Religion, 

1.  The  Climate,  ..... 

2.  The  Fertility,  ..... 

IV.  The  Scenery  of  the  Land,  with  its  Reflection  in 

THE  Poetry  of  the  Old  Testament, 

V.  The  Land  and  Questions  of  Faith, 
VI.  The  View  from  Mount  Ebal, 


I 

7 
II 
21 

28 

43 

61 
61 
76 

90 
105 
117 


XX 


Contents 


Book  II.— WESTERN  PALESTINE 

CHAP. 

VII,  The  Coast,  ..... 

VIII.  The  Maritime  Plain,     .... 

IX.  The  Philistines  and  their  Cities,    . 

X.  The  Shephelah,  ..... 

XI.  Early  Christianity  in  the  Shephelah, 

XII.  Jud^a    and    Samaria  —  The    History    of    their 
Frontier,       .... 

XIII.  The  Borders  and  Bulwarks  of  Judaea, 

1.  East :  The  Great  Gulf  with  Jericho  and  Engedi — The 

Entrance  of  Israel, 

2.  The  Southern  Border  :  The  Negeb,    . 

3.  The  Western  Border  :  The  Defiles,    . 

4.  The  Northern  Border  :  The  Fortresses  of  Benjamin, 

XIV.  An  Estimate  of  the  Real  Strength  of  Jud^a, 
XV.  The  Character  of  Jud.%;a, 

XVI.  Samaria,    .  .  •  . 

XVII.  The  Strong  Places  of  Samaria, 
XVIII.  The  Question  of  Sychar, 

XIX.    ESDRAELON, 

XX.  Galilee,     . 
XXI.  The  Lake  of  Galilee, 
XXII.  The  Jordan  Valley, 
XXIII.  The  Dead  Sea,     . 


Contents 


XXI 


Book  III.— EASTERN  PALESTINE 

CHAP. 

XXIV.  Over  Jordan  :   General  Features,  . 

XXV.  The  Names  and  Divisions  of  Eastern  Palestine 

1.  The  Three  Natural  Divisions, 

2.  The  Political  Names  and  Divisions  To-day, 

3.  In  the  Greek  Times  :  the  Time  of  Our  Lord 

4.  Under  the  Old  Testament, 

XXVI.  Moab  and  the  Coming  of  Israel,    , 
XXVII.  Israel  in  Gilead  and  Bashan, 
XXVIII.  Greece  over  Jordan  :  The  Decapolis, 
XXIX.  Hauran  and  its  Cities, 
XXX.  Damascus,  .... 


531 

534 
535 
538 
548 

555 
573 

593 
609 

639 


APPENDICES 

I.  Some  Geographical  Passages  and  Terms  of  the 

Old  Testament,        .            .            •           .            .  651 

II.  Stade's  Theory  of  Israel's  Invasion  of  Western 

Palestine,      ......  659 

III,  The  Wars  against  Sihon  and  Og,   .           .           .  662 

IV.  The  Bibliography  of  Eastern  Palestine,             .  665 
V.  Roads  and  Wheeled  Vehicles  in  Syria,    .           .  667 

INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS 673 

INDEX  OF  AUTHORITIES,  .  .  .688 


LIST  OF  PLATES 


I.  General  Map  of  Palestine,   . 


II.  Map  of  the  Semitic  World,   . 

III.  Physical  Sketch  Map,    ... 

IV.  Jud.^a,  the  Shephelah,  and  Philistia 
V.  Samaria, 

VI.    ESDRAELON  AND  LOWER  GALILEE,     . 


'  In  the  Pocket  at  the 
.  end  of  the  Volume 


Frontispiece 

oil  page      5 1 

.  to  face  page  167 

»         321 

377 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE 


Entrance  of  Israel  into  Palestine 

Deborah  and  her  Song, 

Gideon, 

Saul  anointed, 

David,  King, 

Solomon,  King, 

Disruption  of  the  Kingdom  and  invasion  by  Shishak 

Elijah,    . 

Israel  comes  into  touch  with  Assyria  :  Battle  of  Kai 

Elisha,  . 

First  Writing  Prophets  :  Amos,  Hosea, 

/"Uzziah  dies, 
Isaiah  -'  Northern  Israel  falls,  . 

^Deliverance  of  Jerusalem, 

Discovery  of  Book  of  Law, 
Death  of  Josiah  at  Megiddo, 
Fall  of  Assyria  :  Rise  of  Babylonia, 
First  Great  Captivity  of  Jerusalei 
^Second      „  „  „ 

/"Fall  of  Babylonia  :  Rise  of  Persia, 
-  Return  of  Jews  from  exile, 
(.Temple  Rebuilt, 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah,     . 
Erection  of  Temple  on  Gerizim, 
Alexander  the  Great  in  Syria,  . 
Beginning  of  Seleucid  Era, 
Kingdom  of  Parthia  founded,  . 
Rome  defeats  Antiochus  the  Great  at  Magnesia, 


Jeremiah 
Ezekiel  \ 


Second 
Isaiah 


kar, 


B.C. 

a'rca         1300 


before 


1075 
1050 
1020 
970 
870 
854 
850-800 
750 
740 
721 
701 
621 
608 
606 
597 
587 
538 
536 
515 
457-440 
360 

332 
312 
250 
192 


XXIV 


Chronological  Table 


The  Maccabees,  .  , 

John  Hyrcanus, 
Alexander  Janneus, 

Arrival  of  Pompey  :  Roman  Province  of  Syri 
Parthians  invade  Syria, 
Battle  of  Actium, 
Herod  the  Great, 
His  kingdom  divided   among   Archelaus,    Herod   Antipas 
and  Philip, 


B.C. 

166-135 

135-105 

104-78 

64 

40 

31 

37-4 


Archelaus  banished  :  Judtea  under  Roman  Procurator, 

Death  of  Philip, 

Banishment  of  Antipas, 

Agrippa  i.,  . 

Agrippa  ll., 

Jewish  Rebellion  against  Rome, 

Siege  of  Jerusalem, 

Formation  of  Roman  Province  of  Arabia  by  Trajan, 

Final  overthrow  of  the  Jews  under  Bar  Cochba  by  Hadrian, 

Origen  in  Palestine,      .... 

Decian  Persecution,      .... 

Diocletian's  Persecution, 

Eusebius,  Archbishop  of  Csesarea, 

Constantine  the  Great, 

Final  overthrow  of  Paganism  in  Palestine,     . 

The  Hejra  .  .  .  .       /     . 

Death  of  Mohammed,  .  .  .      '      . 

Moslem  conquest  of  Syria, 

Omeyyade  Khalifs  make  Damascus  their  capital. 

Invasion  of  Seljuk  Turks, 

First  Crusade  and  Latin  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem, 

Battle  of  Hattin  won  by  Saladin, 

Third  Crusade,  Richard  of  England,  . 

Sultan  Bibars,  and  overthrow  of  the  Franks, 

Mongol  Invasions,  the  last  by  Timur, 

Napoleon  in  Syria,        .  .  .  , 


6 

34 

39 

37-44 

50-100 

66 

70 

106 

135 

218 

250 

303 

315-318 

323-336 

400 

622 

632 

.   634-638 

661 

1070- 1085 

1098- 1 1 87 

1187 

1191 

circa         1270 

1240,  1260,  1400 

1799 


ctrca 


on  from 


circa 


ABBREVIATIONS 

Baudissin,  Stud.  =Studien  zur  Seniitischen  Religionsgeschichte. 
Boha-ed-Din,  Vit  Sal.,  ed.  Schult=Vita  Saladim's,  with  excerpts  from  the 

geography  of  Abulfeda,  ed.  Schultens.     See  p.  17,  n.  2. 
Budde,  A'?',  u.  Sa.  or  Richt.  Sam.  =Die  Biicher  Richter  ti.  Samtielis. 
C.I.S.  —  Corpus  Inscriptionu7n  Setnituaruni,  of.  p.  15,  n.  I. 
Conder,  T.W.-=Tetit  Work  m  Palestine. 

De  Saulcy,  Num.  de  la  T.S.  =Numistiiatique  de  la  Tei-re  Sainte. 
Geog.  Gr.  Min.  =  Geographi  Graeci  Minores,  edd.  Hudson  and  Miiller.     See 

p.  16. 
Hend.  Pal.— The  Historical  Geogj-aphy  of  Palestine,  by  Rev.  A.  Henderson, 

D.D.     2d  ed.     In  '  Handbooks  for  Bible  Classes. '    Clark,  Edinburgh. 
Josephus,  Antt.  =  Antiquities. 

,,  Wars-=  Wars  of  the  Jews. 

A'.^.  71  =Schrader's  Keilinschriften  ti.  das  Alt e  Testament. 
Neubauer,  Geog.  Tal.=La  Geographic  du  Talmud,  Paris,  1868. 
P.E.F.  Mem.  ^Memoirs  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund. 
P.E.F.Q.  =  Quarterly  Statement  of  Palestine  Exploration  Fund. 
P.E.F.  Red.  Map  =  Reduced  Map  of  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  edd.  1890  f. 
P.P.  T.  =  Palestine  Pilgrims  Text  Society's  Series  of  Publications. 
Robertson  Smith,  O.T.J.C.  —  Old  Testament  iii  the  Jewish  Church,  ed.  2, 

1892. 
Robinson,  B.R.  ox  Bib.  Res.=  Biblical  Researches,  London,  1841. 

,,         L. R.=  Later  Researches,  J^ondion,  1852. 
Siegfried-Stade  =  Siegfried  and  Stade's  Handworterbtich. 
Stade,  G.V.I,  or  Gesch.  =  Geschichle  des  Volkes  Israel. 
Wadd.  =Le  Bas  and  Waddingtoil,  Inscriptions  Grecques  et  Latines  recuillies 

en  Grece  et  eti  Asie  Minetire.     See  p.  15,  n.  i. 
Wetz.  =  Wetzstein. 

Z.A.  T.  W.  =  Zeitschrift  fir  Alt-testamenlliche  Wissenschaft. 
Z.D.M.G.  —Zeitschrift  der  Deutscheti  Alorgenldndischcn  Gesellschaft. 
Z.D.P.  V.s^Zeitschrift  des  Deulschcn  Paldstina  Veirins. 


In  the  transliteration  of  Hebrew  and  Arabic  words  'Aleph  is  usually  ren- 
dered by  a  light,  'Ayin  by  a  rough,  breathing;  but  in  well-known  names 
they  are  sometimes  omitted  ;  Qoph  by  A";  Sade  usually  by  .9. 

In  ancient  names  Gimel  is  rendered  by  G  (hard),  in  modern  names  byy. 

XXV 


BOOK   I 

THE  LAND  AS  A   WHOLE 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  PLACE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  WORLD'S 
HISTORY 


For  this  chapter  consult  Map  II. 


THE  PLACE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  WORLD'S 
HISTORY 

BETWEEN  the  Arabian  Desert  and  the  eastern  coast 
of  the  Levant  there  stretches — along  almost  the 
full  extent  of  the  latter,  or  for  nearly  400  miles — a  tract 
of  fertile  land  varying  from  70  to  lOO  miles  in  breadth. 
This  is  so  broken  up  by  mountain  range  and  valley,  that 
it  has  never  all  been  brought  under  one  native  govern- 
ment ;  yet  its  well-defined  boundaries — the  sea  on  the 
west.  Mount  Taurus  on  the  north,  and  the  desert  to  east 
and  south — give  it  a  certain  unity,  and  separate  it  from 
the  rest  of  the  world.  It  has  rightly,  therefore,  been 
covered  by  one  name,  Syria.  Like  that  of  The  Names 
Palestine,  the  name  is  due  to  the  Greeks,  but  °^  ^^^  ^^"'^• 
by  a  reverse  process.  As  '  Palestina,'  which  is  really 
Philistina,  was  first  the  name  of  only  a  part  of  the 
coast,  and  thence  spread  inland  to  the  desert,^  so  Syria, 
which  is  a  shorter  form  of  Assyria,  was  originally 
applied  by  the  Greeks  to  the  whole  of  the  Assyrian 
Empire  from  the  Caucasus  to  the  Levant,  then  shrank 
to  this  side  of  the  Euphrates,  and  finally  within  the 
limits  drawn  above.  The  Arabs  call  the  country  Esh- 
Sham,  or  '  The  Left,'  for  it  is  really  the  northern  or 
north-western   end   of  the   great    Arabian    Peninsula,  of 

^  See  p.  4. 


4      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

which  they  call  the  southern  side  El  Yemen,  or  '  The 
Right.'  1 

The  name  Palaistine,  which  Josephus  himself  uses  only 
of  Philistia,  was  employed  by  the  Greeks  to  distinguish 
all  Southern  Syria,  inclusive  of  Judsea.  from  Phoenicia  and 
Coele-Syria.  They  called  it  Syria  Palaistine,  using  the 
word  as  an  adjective,  and  then  Palaistin^,  the  noun 
alone.  From  this  the  Romans  got  their  Palestina,  which 
in  the  second  century  was  a  separate  province,  and  later 
on  divided  into  Palestina  Prima,  Secunda,  Tertia.  It 
still  survives  in  the  name  of  the  Arab  gund  or  canton — 
Filistin.2 

These  were  foreign  names  :  the  much  older  and  native 
name  Canaan  is  of  doubtful  origin,  perhaps  racial,  but 

^  Syria,  as  a  modern  geographical  term,  is  to  be  distinguished  from  the 
Syria  and  Syrians  of  the  English  version  of  the  Old  Testament.  The 
Hebrew  of  these  terms  is  Aram,  Arameaits,  a  northern  Semitic  people  who 
dwelt  in  Mesopotamia,  Aram-Naharaim,  and  west  of  the  Euphrates — as  far 
west  as  the  Phoenician  coast,  and  south  to  Damascus.  Some,  however,  hold 
that  Aram-Naharaim  was  on  this  side  the  Euphrates.  The  Roman  Province 
of  Syria  extended  from  the  Euphrates  to  Egypt.  Its  eastern  boundary  was 
a  line  from  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez  past  the  south-eastern  end  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  the  east  of  Gilead  and  the  Hauran  and  Palmyra,  to  the  Euphrates. 
East  of  this  line  was  Arabia  (see  chap.  xxv.). 

2  The  full  history  of  the  word  is  this :— Philistines,  DTlti'i'Q  or  CTlt^i'S 
is  rendered  by  the  LXX.  in  the  Hexateuch  (pvKicjTLdfji ;  cf.  i  Mace.  iii.  24, 
Sirach  xlvi.  18.  From  this  Josephus  has  the  adjective  <pv\(.(rTivos,  i.  AnU. 
vi.  2.  But  his  usual  form  is  iraXauyTlvos.  He  also  knows  the  noun 
H  IlaXato-T/j'T;,  and  uses  it  himself  of  Philistia,  xiii.  Antt.  v.  10 :  '  Simeon 
traversed  Judah  /cat  Tr]v  IlakaiaTivrjv  up  to  Askalon.'  Cf.  i.  Anit.  vi.  2  : 
'  The  country  from  Gaza  to  Egypt  .  .  .  the  Greeks  call  part  of  that  country 
Palestine.'  But  in  Contra  Apion,  i.  22,  he  quotes  Herodotus  as  using  the 
name  in  the  wider  sense  inclusive  of  Judsea.  Herodotus,  who  describes 
Syria  as  extending  from  Cilicia  to  Mount  Carius,  distinguishes  the  Phoenicians 
from  the  Si'piot  oi  iv  ttj  TiaXaiffTLvrj,  or  ot  TlixkaiaTlvoi  KaXed/xevoi  (ii.  104  ; 
iii.  5,  91  ;  vii.  89),  and  defines  it  as  ttjs  'EvplTjs  toDto  to  xwpi'o;'  koI  rb 
/J.ixp'-  A-iyuTTTOv  Traf  IlaXaiaTii'r]  KaXeirai.  Arrian  (Anabasis,  ii.  25)  speaks 
of  7]  "Zipit]  HaXaLaTiPT].  Syria  was  divided  into  S.  Palestina,  S.  Punica,  and 
S,  Ccela ;  Herod,  i.  105.     Palestine  was  made  a  separate  province,  67  a.d. 


Syria's  Place  in  History  5 

more  probably  geographical  and  meaning  '  sunken '  or 
'  low '  land.  It  seems  to  have  at  first  belonged  to  the 
Phoenician  coast  as  distinguished  from  the  hills  above. 
But  thence  it  extended  to  other  lowlands — Sharon,  the 
Jordan  valley,  and  so  over  the  whole  country,  mountain  / 
as  well  as  plain.^  V 

The  historical  geography  of  Syria,  so  far  as  her  rela- 
tions with  the  rest  of  the  world  are  concerned,  may  be 
summed  up  in  a  paragraph.  Syria  is  the  summary  of 
northern  and  most  fertile  end  of  the  great  '(Je'ographTol 
Semitic  home — the  peninsula  of  Arabia.  But  ^y"^- 
the  Semitic  home  is  distinguished  by  its  central  position 
in  geography — between  Asia  and  Africa,  and  between 
the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  Mediterranean,  which  is 
Europe  ;  and  the  role  in  history  of  the  Semitic  race  has 
been  also  intermediary.  The  Semites  have  been  the 
great  middlemen  of  the  world.  Not  second-rate  in  war, 
they  have  risen  to  the  first  rank  in  commerce  and  reli- 
gion. They  have  been  the  carriers  between  East  and 
West,  they  have  stood  between  the  great  ancient  civilisa- 
tions and  those  which  go  to  make  up  the  modern  world  ; 
while  by  a  higher  gift,  for  which  their  conditions  neither 
in  place  nor  in  time  fully  account,  they  have  been  mediary 
between  God  and  man,  and  proved  the  religious  teachers 
of  the  world,  through  whom  have  come  its  three  highest 
faiths,  its  only  universal  religions.     Syria's  history  is  her 

^  Land  of  Canaan  is  applied  in  the  Tell-el-Amarna  Correspondence  of  the 
14th  cent.  B.C.  (Tab.,  Berlin,  92)  to  the  Phccnician  coast,  and  later  by  Egyp- 
tians to  all  W.  Syria.  Ace.  to  Jos.  xi.  3,  there  were  Canaanites  east  and  west 
of  the  land  ;  ace.  to  Jud.  i.  9,  all  over,  in  the  Mount,  Negeb,  and  Shephelah 
and  (ver.  10)  in  Hebron.  It  was  the  spread  of  the  Canaanites  that  spread 
the  name.  In  Isa.  xix.  18,  (he  lip  of  Canaan  is  the  one  language  spoken  in 
Palestine,  of  which  Phccnician,  Hebrew,  Moabite,  etc.,  were  only  dialects. 
In  Zech.  xiv.  21,  probably  Canaanite  =  Phoenician  =  mercliant. 


6      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

share  in  this  great  function  of  intermedium,  which  has 
endured  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present  day. 

To  put  it  more  particularly,  Syria  lies  between  two  con- 
tinents— Asia  and  Africa  ;  between  two  primeval  homes  of 
men — the  valleys  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile  ;  between 
two  great  centres  of  empire — Western  Asia  and  Egypt  : 
between  all  these,  representing  the  El^tern  and  ancient 
world,  and  the  Mediterranean,  which  is  the  gateway  to 
the  Western  and  modern  world.  Syria  has  been  likened 
to  a  bridge  between  Asia  and  Africa — a  bridge  with  the 
desert  on  one  side  and  the  sea  upon  the  other ;  and,  in 
truth,  all  the  great  invasions  of  Syria,  with  two  ex- 
ceptions, have  been  delivered  across  her  northern  and 
southern  ends.  But  these  two  exceptions — the  invasions 
of  Israel  and  Islam — prove  the  insufficiency  of  the  bridge 
simile,  not  only  because  they  were  but  the  highest  waves 
of  an  almost  constant  tide  of  immigration  which  has 
flowed  upon  Syria  from  Arabia,  but  because  they  repre- 
sent that  gift  of  religion  to  her,  which  in  its  influence  on 
her  history  far  exceeds  the  influence  of  her  central  posi- 
tion, Syria  is  not  only  the  bridge  between  Asia  and 
Africa  :  she  is  the  refuge  of  the  drifting  populations  of 
Arabia.  She  has  been  not  only  the  highroad  of  civilisa- 
tions and  the  battle-field  of  empires,  but  the  pasture  and 
the  school  of  innumerable  little  tribes.  She  has  been  not 
merely  an  open  channel  of  war  and  commerce  for  nearly 
the  whole  world,  but  the  vantage-ground  and  opportunity 
of  the  world's  highest  religions.  In  this  strange  mingling 
of  bridge  and  harbour,  of  highroad  and  field,  of  battle- 
ground and  sanctuary,  of  seclusion  and  opportunity — ren- 
dered possible  through  the  striking  division  of  her  surface 
into   mountain  and  plain — lies   all  the  secret  of  Syria's 


Syria  s  Place  in  History 


history,  under  the  religion  which  has  lifted  her  fame  to 
glory.  As  to  her  western  boundary,  no  invasion,  save  of 
hope,  ever  came  over  that.  Even  when  the  nations  of 
Europe  sought  Palestine,  their  armies  did  not  enter  by 
her  harbours  till  the  coast  was  already  in  their  posses- 
sion. But  across  this  coast  she  felt  from  the  first  her 
future  to  lie  ;  her  expectation  went  over  the  sea  to  isles 
and  mainlands  far  beyond  her  horizon  ;  and  it  was  into 
the  West  that  her  spiritual  empire — almost  the  only 
empire  Syria  ever  knew — advanced  upon  its  most  glorious 
course. 

In  all  this  there  are  four  chief  factors  of  which  it  will 
be  well  for  us  to  have  some  simple  outline  before  we  go 
into  details.  These  are— Syria's  Relations  to  Arabia,  from 
which  she  drew  her  population  ;  ner  position  as  .  Debate- 
able  Ground  between  Asia  and  Africa,  as  well  as  between 
both  of  these  and  Europe  ;  Jier  Influence  Westwards  ;  iter 
Religion.  These  outlines  will  be  brief.  They  are  meant 
merely  to  introduce  the  reader  to  the  extent  and  the 
interest  of  the  historical  geography  which  he  is  beginning, 
as  well  as  to  indicate  our  chief  authorities. 

I.  The  Relation  of  Syria  to  Arabia. 

We  have  seen  that  Syria  is  the  north  end  of  the 
Arabian  world,  that  great  parallelogram  which  is  bounded 
by  the  Levant  with  Mount  Taurus,  the  Euphrates  with  the 
Persian  Gulf,  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  the  Red  Sea  with  the 
Isthmus  of  Suez.  Within  these  limits  there  is  a  wonderful 
uniformity  of  nature  :  the  mass  of  the  territory  is  high, 
barren  table-land,  but  dotted  by  oases  of  great  fertility, 
and  surrounded   by  a  lower  level,  most  of  which  is  also 


8      The  HistoT'ical  GeograpJiy  of  the  Holy  Land 

fertile.^  The  population  is  all  Semitic.  It  is  very  nume- 
rous for  so  bare  a  land,  and  hardy  and  reproductive.  But 
it  is  broken  up  into  small  tribes,  with  no  very  definite 
territories.  These  tribes  have  gone  forth  united  as  a 
nation  only  at  one  period  in  their  history,  and  that  was 
the  day  of  Islam,  when  their  dominion  extended  from 
India  to  the  Atlantic.  At  all  other  times  they  have 
advanced  separately,  either  by  single  tribes  or  a  few 
tribes  together.  Their  outgoings  were  four— across  the 
Straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb  into  Ethiopia,  across  the  Isthmus 
of  Suez  into  Egypt,  across  the  Euphrates  into  Mesopo- 
tamia, across  the  Jordan  into  Western  Syria.  Of  these, 
^  Syria  became  the  most  common  receptacle  of  the  Arabian 
drift.  She  lay,  so  to  speak,  broadside-on  to  the  desert ; 
part  of  her  was  spread  east  of  the  Jordan,  rolling  off  unde- 
fended into  the  desert  steppes  ;  she  was  seldom  protected 
by  a  strong  government,  like  Egypt  and  Mesopotamia ; 
and  so  in  early  times  she  received  not  only  the  direct 
tides  of  the  desert,  but  the  backwash  from  these  harbours 
as  well.  Of  this  the  •  Hebrews  were  an  instance,  who 
came  over  to  her,  first  from  Mesopotamia  and  then 
from  Egypt.  The  loose  humanity  of  the  Semitic  world 
has,  therefore,  been  constantly  beating  upon  Syria,  and 
The  Arabian  almost  as  constantly  breaking  into  her.  Of 
Immigrations,  ^j^g  tribes  who  crosscd  her  border,  some  flowed 
in  from  the  neighbourhood  only  for  summer,  and  ebbed 
again  with  autumn,  like  the  Midianites  in  Gideon's  day, 
or  the  various  clans  of  the  'Aneezeh  in   our  own.     But 

^  The  coast  of  the  Indian  Ocean  open  to  the  monsoon?,  with  part  of  the 
coasts  of  the  Red  Sea  and  Persian  Gulf,  Syria,  the  slopes  of  Taurus,  and  the 
Euphrates  valley,  are  fertile.  The  rest  of  the  Persian  Gulf  and  Red  Sea 
coasts,  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  and  forty  miles  of  the  coast  of  the  Levant,  are 
desert. 


Syria's  Place  in  History 


others  came  up  out  of  the  centre  or  from  the  south  of 
Arabia — like  the  Beni  Jafn,  for  instance,  who  migrated 
all  the  way  from  Yemen  in  the  first  Christian  century, 
and,  being  made  by  the  Romans  wardens  of  the  eastern 
marches  of  the  Empire,  founded  in  time  a  great  dynasty 
— the  Ghassanides.  And  others  came  because  they  had 
been  crowded  or  driven  out  of  the  Nile  or  the  Euphrates 
valley,  like  the  Syrians,  the  Philistines,  and  the  Children 
of  Israel. 

Thus  Syria  was  peopled.  Whenever  history  lights  up 
her  borders  we  see  the  same  process  at  work :  when 
Israel  crosses  the  Jordan  ;  when  the  Midianites  follow 
and  oppress  her ;  when,  the  Jews  being  in  exile,  the 
Idumeans  come  up  on  their  seats  ;  when  the  Decapolis 
is  formed  as  a  Greek  league  to  keep  the  Arabs  out ;  when 
the  Romans,  with  their  wonderful  policy,  enrol  some  of 
the  immigrants  to  hold  the  others  in  check  ;  especially 
at  the  Moslem  invasion  ;  but  also  during  the  Latin  king- 
dom of  Jerusalem,  when  various  nomadic  tribes  roaming 
certain  regions  with  their  tents  are  assigned  to  the 
Crown  or  to  different  Orders  of  Chivalry;^  and  even 
to-day,  when  parts  of  the  Survey  Map  of  Their  Cease- 
Palestine  are  crossed  by  the  names  of  the  i^sncss. 
Beni  Sab,  the  Beni  Humar,  the  'Arab-el-'Amarin,  and  so 
forth,  just  as  the  map  of  ancient  Palestine  is  distributed 
among  the  B'ne  Naphtali,  the  B'ne  Joseph,  the  B'ne 
Jehudah,  and  other  clans  of  Israel.  All  these,  ancient 
and  modern,  have  been  members  of  the  same  Semitic 
race.  Some  of  them  have  carried  Syria  by  sudden  war ; 
others  have    ranged  for  a  long  time  up  and  down  the 

^  Prutz,  Z.D.P.  v.,  X.  192,  mentions  so  many  *  tents'  or  'tribes  'as  assigned 
to  the  Order  of  St.  [ohn,  and  argues  that  the  rest  belonged  to  the  king. 


lo     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Syrian  border,  or  settled  peacefully  on  the  more  neglected 
parts  of  the  land,  till  gradually  they  were  weaned  from 
their  pastoral  habits,  and  drawn  in  among  the  agricultural 
population.  To-day  you  do  not  see  new  tribes  coming 
up  from  the  centre  or  other  end  of  Arabia  to  invade 
Syria ;  but  you  do  see  a  powerful  tribe  like  the  Ruwalla, 
for  instance,  ranging  every  year  between  the  Euphrates 
and  the  Jordan  ;  or  smaller  clans  like  the  Ta'amirah  of  the 
Judaean  wilderness,  or  the  'Adwan  of  Moab,  after  living 
for  centuries  by  extorting  blackmail  from  the  fcllahin, 
gradually  themselves  take  to  agriculture,  and  submit  to 
the  settled  government  of  the  country.^ 

From  all  this  have  ensued  two  consequences : — 
First.  The  fact  that  by  far  the  strongest  immigration 
into  Syria  has  been  of  a  race  composed  of  small  inde- 
Syria's  Popu-  pendent  tribes,  both  suits  and  exaggerates  the 
lation  tribal  tendencies  of  the  land  itself  Syria,  as  we 
shall  see  in  the  next  chapter,  is  broken  up  into  a  number 
of  petty  provinces,  as  separated  by  desert  and  mountain 
as  some  of  the  Swiss  cantons  are  by  the  Alps.  These 
little  clans,  which  swarmed  out  of  Arabia,  fitted  the  little 
shelves  and  corners  of  Syria,  so  that  Syria  was  tribal  both 
by  her  form  and  by  the  character  of  her  population.  It  is 
partly  this,  and  partly  her  position  between  great  and  hostile 
races,  which  have  disabled  her  from  political  empire. 

Second.  The  population  of  Syria  has  always  been  essen- 
tially Semitic.     There  are  few  lands  into  which  so  many 
divers  races  have  come :   as  in  ancient  times 

and  Semitic.        _,,.,..  .     ^^.     .  .  .  . 

rhilistmes  and  Hittites  ;  then  m  very  large 
numbers,  Greeks  ;  then  with  the  Crusades  a  few  hundred 
thousands   of  Franks  ;  then   till   the  present   day   more 

^  For  the  present  successful  policy  of  the  Turks  in  this,  see  ch.  xxiv. 


Syria  s  Place  in  History  1 1 

Franks,  more  Greeks,  Turks,  Kurds,  and  some  colonies 
of  Circassians.  But  all  these  have  scarcely  even  been 
grafted  on  the  stock  ;  ^  and  the  stock  is  Semitic.  The 
Greek  has  been  the  one  possible  rival  of  the  Semite  ;  but 
Greeks  have  inhabited  only  cities,  where  the  death-rate 
exceeds  the  birth-rate,  and,  were  they  not  renewed  from 
abroad,  they  would  disappear  in  the  general  mass  of  the 
Arab  or  Syrian  population.^ 

II.  Syria's  Relation  to  the  three  Continents. 

When  the  Arabian  tribes  came  up  from  their  desert 
into  Syria,  they  found  themselves  on  the  edge  of  a  great 
highroad  and  looking  across  a  sea.  The  highroad  is  that 
between  Asia  and  Africa ;  the  sea  is  that  which  leads 
from  the  East  to  Europe.  From  one  of  the  most  remote 
positions  on  the  earth  they  were  plunged  into  the  midst  of 
the  world's  commerce  and  war.  While  this  prevented 
them  from  consolidating  into  an  empire  of  their  own,  it 
proved  the  opportunity  and  development  of  the  marvel- 
lous gifts  which  they  brought  with  them  from  their  age- 
long seclusion  in  the  desert. 

Syria's  position  between  two  of  the  oldest  homes  of  the 

^  In  face  of  the  fair  hair  and  blue  eyes  you  often  meet  in  Bethlehem  and  in 
the  Lebanon,  it  is  too  much  to  say  with  Socin  (Art.  '  Syria, '  .£'«r>r.  Brit.) 
'  that  every  trace  of  the  presence  of  Greeks,  Romans,  and  Franks  has 
completely  disappeared.' 

-  '  In  Eastern  cities  the  death-rate  habitually  exceeds  the  birth-rate,  and  the 
urban  population  is  maintained  only  by  constant  recruital  from  the  country, 
so  that  it  is  the  blood  of  the  peasantry  which  ultimately  determines  the  type 
of  the  population.  Thus  it  is  to  be  explained  that  after  the  Arab  conquest  of 
Syria  the  Greek  element  in  the  population  rapidly  disappeared.  Indeed,  one 
of  the  most  palpable  proofs  that  the  populations  of  all  the  old  Semitic  lands 
possessed  a  remarkable  homogeneity  of  character  is  the  fact  that  in  them,  and 
in  them  alone,  the  Arabs  and  Arab  influence  took  permanent  root.' — Robertson 
Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  12,  13. 


1 2      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

human  race  made  her  the  passage  for  the  earhest  inter- 
course and  exchanges  of  civiHsation.     There  is  probably 
no  older  road  in  all   the  world   than  that  which   is  still 
used  by  caravans  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Nile,  through 
Damascus,   Galilee,   Esdraelon,   the    Maritime 
Asirand        Plain,  and  Gaza.     It  is  doubtful  whether  his- 
tory has  to  record  any  great  campaigns — as 
distinguished  from  tribal  wars — earlier  than  those  which 
Egypt   and    Assyria   waged    against   each   other    across 
the  whole  extent  of  Syria,  and  continued  to  wage  down 
to  the  sixth  century  before  Christ.      But  more   distant 
powers   than    these   broke   across   this    land    from    both 
Asia  and  Africa.     The   Hittites  came  south  from   Asia 
Minor   over   Mount    Taurus,  and   the   Ethiopians   came 
north  from  their   conquest  of  the    Nile.^      Towards  the 
end  of  the  great  duel  between  Assyria  and   Egypt,  the 
Scythians  from  north  of  the  Caucasus  devastated  Syria.^ 
When  the  Babylonian  Empire  fell,  the  Persians  made  her 
a  province  of  their  empire,  and  marched  across  her  to 
Egypt.     At  the  beginning  of  our  era,   she  was  overrun 
by  the  Parthians.^     The  Persians  invaded  her  a  second 
time,^  just   before  the    Moslem    invasion  of  the  seventh 
century  ;    she   fell,  of  course,  under  the  Seljuk  Turks  in 
the  eleventh  ;  ^  and  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  the 
Mongols  thrice  swept  through  her.^ 

Into  this  almost  constant  stream  of  empires  and  races, 
which  swept  through  Syria  from  the  earliest  ages,  Europe 

^  2  Chron.  xiv.  9. 

-  Alluded  to  Zeph.  ii. ;  Jer.  i.  14  ff.     Cf.  Herodotus  i.  104  ff. 

^  40  B.C.  *  612-616  A.D.,  under  Chosroes  II.  ^  1070-1085. 

®  In  1240  Syrians  and  Crusaders  stood  together  to  beat  back  the  Khares- 
mians ;  a  second  Mongol  invasion  took  place  in  1260,  and  a  third  in  1400 
under  Timur,  which  repeated  the  exportations  of  early  Assyrian  days,  and 
carried  off  the  effective  classes  of  Damascus  and  other  towns  to  Samarcand. 


Syria  s  Place  in  History  13 

was  drawn  under  Alexander  the  Great ;  and  now  that  the 
West  began  to  invade  the  East,  Syria  was  found  to  be  as 
central  between  them  as  between  Asia  and  Between  Europe 
Africa.  She  was  Alexander's  pathway  to  ^"d  the  East. 
Egypt,  332  B.C.  She  was  scoured  during  the  following 
centuries  by  the  wars  of  the  Seleucids  and  Ptolemies, 
and  her  plains  were  planted  all  over  by  their  essentially 
Greek  civilisation.  Pompey  brought  her  under  the  Roman 
Empire,  B.C.  65,  and  in  this  she  remained  till  the  Arabs 
took  her,  634  A.D.  The  Crusaders  held  her  for  a  century, 
1098- 1 187,  and  parts  of  her  for  a  century  more  :  coming 
to  her,  not,  like  most  other  invaders,  because  she  was  the 
road  to  somewhere  else,  but  because  she  was  herself,  in 
their  eyes,  the  goal  of  all  roads,  the  central  and  most 
blessed  province  of  the  world,  and  yet  but  repeating  upon 
her  the  old  contest  between  East  and  West.  Napoleon  the 
Great  made  her  the  pathway  of  his  ambition  towards 
that  empire  on  the  Euphrates  and  Indus  whose  fate  was 
decided  on  her  plains,  1799.  Since  then,  Syria's  history 
has  mainly  consisted  in  a  number  of  sporadic  attempts 
on  the  part  of  the  Western  world  to  plant  upon  her  both 
their  civilisation  and  her  former  religion. 

Thus  Syria  has  been  a  land  in  which  history  has  very 
largely  repeated  itself;  and  if  we  believe  that  history 
never  repeats,  without  explaining,  itself,  we  shall  see  the 
value  of  all  these  invasions  from  Asia,  A^frica,  and  Europe 
for  illustrating  that  part  of  Syrian  history  which  is  more 
especially  our  interest.  What,  then,  are  our  authorities 
for  them  all  ? 

Many  of  these  invasions  have  left  on  the  land  no  trace 
which  is  readable  by  us,  but  others  have  stamped  their 
impression  both  in  monuments,  which  we  can   decipher, 


14      The  Histo7'ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  in  literature.  Of  monuments,  Hittites,^  Assyrians,  and 
Egyptians  have  each  left  a  very  few — upon  stones  north 
of  the  Lebanon,  on  the  rocks  by  the  old  coast 
aiS"  A's^syrian  road  at  the  mouth  of  the  Dog  River,-  on  a 
solitary  stone  near  the  highroad  across  the 
Hauran,^  on  a  clay  tablet  found  the  other  day  at  Lachish,* 
and  in  some  other  fragments.  But  in  the  Egyptian  and 
Assyrian  annals  we  have  itineraries  through  Syria,  and 
records  of  conquest,  most  profuse  and  informing.^  The 
only  records  left  by  the  Antiochi  and  Ptolemies,  besides 
the  names  of  certain  towns,  with  a  few  inscriptions,  are 
coins,  still  occasionally  picked  up  by  the  traveller.*'  On  the 
other  hand,  Greece  and  Rome  have  left  their  monuments 
Greek  and  o^cr  the  whole  land,  but  especially  on  the 
Roman.  plains  and  plateaus  :  in  Lebanon  solitary  Greek 
temples,  with  inscriptions  to  the  gods  of  Greece  and  the 
native  gods  ;  but  across  Jordan  whole  cities,  with  all  the 
usual  civil  architecture  of  theatres,  amphitheatres,  forums, 
temples,  baths,  and  colonnaded  streets.  Yet  you  will  see 
none  earlier  than  the  time  Rome  threw  her  shield  between 

^  Wright,  Empire  of  the  Hittites  ;  Conder,  Heth  and  Moab ;  Sayce's 
Races  of  the  Old  Testanieiti ;  Leon  de  Lantsheeres,  De  la  race  et  de  la  langue 
des  Hittites,  Bruxelles,  1S91  ;  V.  Luschan,  etc.,  Ausg^-abungen  in  Sendschirli, 
I.  Einl.  V.  Inschriften,  Berlin,  1S93  (not  seen). 

2  Robinson,  Later  B.  R.,  618  ff.  ;  Layard,  Discov.  in  Nineveh,  etc.,  211  n. ; 
Conder,  Syrian  Stone  Lore,  56,  124.  ^  Z.D.P.  V.  xii. 

4  Conder,  Tell-el-Amarna  Tablets.     P.E.F.Q.,  1S93,  Jan. 

^  Lepsius'  Denkmdler  aus  Aegypten;  Recoi-ds  of  the  Past,  esp.  Second 
Series,  with  Sayce  on  Tell-el-Amarna  Tablets ;  Tomkins  on  Campaigns  of 
Thothmes  III.  ;  recent  papers  on  these  subjects  in  the  P.E.F.Q.  and  Trans, 
of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaology  ;  Conder,  Tell-el-Afuarna  Tablets,  1893. 
Above  all,  W.  Max  Mtiller,  Asien  u.  Europa  n.  altdgyp.  Denkmdler,  1893. 

^  The  authorities  on  these  are  : — Cough's  Coins  of  the  Seletuidce,  with 
Historical  Memoirs,  London,  1803  ;  Gardner,  Catalogue  of  Coins  in  the 
British  Mitseiim ;  The  Seleucid  LTings  of  Syria,  London,  1878  ;  De  Saulcy 
in  Alelanges  de  Ntimisiuatiqne  (pp.  45-64) ;  and,  of  course,  the  relevant 
sections  in  Eckhel,  Doclrina  nnviomm  veterunt,  and  in  Mionnet. 


Syria's  Place  m  History  15 

the  Greek  civilisation  and  the  Arab  drift  from  the  desert. 
There  are  Roman  pavements,  bridges,  and  milestones  ; 
tombstones  of  legionaries  and  officials;  imperial  and  provin- 
cial edicts;  ascriptions  of  glory  and  deity  to  the  emperors.^ 
The  ruins  of  the  buildings  of  Herod  the  Great  which  sur- 
vive at  Samaria,  Caesarea,  and  elsewhere  are  all  of  Greek 
character,  and  must  be  added  to  the  signs  of  Western 
influence,  which  found  so  strenuous  an  ally  in  that  extra- 
ordinary Idumean.  Coins  also  abound  from  this  period 
— imperial  coins  and  those  of  the  free  Greek  cities.^ 

Through  all  these  ages  the  contemporary  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin  literatures  supplement  the  monuments. 
The  historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  the  form  in 
which  we  have  them,  were  composed  some  centuries  after 
the  earliest  events  of  which  they  treat ;  but,  so  far  as  their 
geography  is  concerned,  they  reflect  with  wonderful  accu- 
racy the  early  invasions  and  immigrations  into  -phe  Evidence 
Syria,  which  we  have  other  means  of  following.  ^^^^^  ^^'o\^. 
In  the  Hebrew  prophets  we  have  contemporary  evidence 

^  The  fullest  collection  of  inscriptions  is  found  in  vol.  iii.  of  Le  Bas  and 
Waddington,  Inscriptions  Grecques  et  Latines,  recueiliies  en  Grice  et  en 
Asie  Mineure ;  text  in  pt.  i.,  transcriptions  and  expositions  in  pt.  ii.  Cf. 
Wetzstein,  Ausgewdhlte  Griech.  u.  Lat.  Inschriften  gesammelt  auf  Reisen 
in  den  Trachonen  u.  tan  das  Haiirangebirge,  from  the  Transactions  of  the 
Royal  Acad,  of  Sciences,  Berlin,  1S63,  with  a  map;  Clermont-Ganneau, 
Rcciieil  d'Arckeologie  Orient  ale,  Paris,  1S88,  and  various  papers  in  the 
P.E.F.Q.;  Mordtmann  in  the  Z.D.F.V.  vii.  119-124;  Allen,  'On  Various 
Inscriptions  discovered  by  Merrill  on  the  East  of  the  Jordan,'  in  the 
American  Journal  of  Philology,  vi.;  Rendell  Harris,  So?ne  recently  Bis- 
covered  Inscriptions ;  my  own  paper  in  the  Critical  Review,  Jan.  1892,  on 
'Some  Unpublished  Inscriptions  from  the  Hauran,'  twelve  in  all,  which  I 
have  republished  in  the  end  of  this  book.  For  any  relevant  Semitic  in- 
scriptions, see  the  Corpus  Inscriptionum  Setniticartun,  Paris,  1881  ff. 
Cf.  Mommsen,  Provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

-  These  are  still  being  found  in  considerable  numbers.  The  authorities 
are: — F.  de  Saulcy,  Niumsmatiqtie  de  la  Terre  Sainte,  Paris,  187^; 
Madden,  Coins  of  the  Jews  (in  part)  ;  Eckhel,  and  Mionnet. 


i6      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

of  the  Assyrian,  Egyptian,  Scythian,  Babylonian,  and 
Persian  invasions :  to  all  these  the  pages  of  prophecy 
are  as  sensitive  as  the  reed-beds  of  Syria  are  to  the 
passage  of  the  wind  and  the  flood.  Later  books, 
like  Daniel  and  Ecclesiastes,  and  fragments  of  books, 
like  some  Psalms,  betray  by  their  style  of  thought, 
and  by  their  language,  that  Israel  has  felt  the  first 
Greek  influences.  The  books  of  the  Maccabees  and 
Josephus  trace  for  us  the  course  of  Greek  and  Roman 
advance,  the  long  struggle  over  plain  and  mountain — the 
Hellenisation  of  the  former,  the  final  conquest  of  the 
latter  by  Rome.  The  Gospels  are  full  of  signs  of  the 
Roman  supremacy — publicans,  taxes,  Caesar's  superscrip- 
tion on  coins,  the  centurions,  the  incubus  of  the  Legion, 
the  authority  of  Csesan  The  Acts  tell  us  how  upon  the 
west  of  Jordan  Rome  defended  Christianity  from  Judaism, 
as  upon  the  east  she  shielded  Hellenism  from  the  desert 
barbarians.  In  Pagan  literature  we  have  by  this  time 
many  histories  and  geographies  with  large  information 
about  the  Graeco-Roman  influence  in  Syria  up  to  the 
Fall  of  Jerusalem.^ 

For  the  first  six  centuries  of  our  era  Syria  was  a  province 
of  the  Empire,  in  which,  for  a  time,  Hellenism  was  more  at 
Early  Chris-  home  than  in  Hellas  itself,  and  Christianity 
tian  Records.  ^^^^^  ^^^.^  persecuted  and  then  established  by 
Western  edicts  and  arms.  The  story  of  this  is  told 
by  the  Syrian  and  Greek  historians   of  the   Church,   the 

^  Polybius  passim  ;  Diodorus  Siculus  ;  Arrian's  Anabasis  of  Alexander,  ii. ; 
Quintus  Curtius,  iv.  ;  Strabo's  Geography,  especially  xvi.  2,  and  Ptolemy's ; 
Geographi  Graci  Minores  (edd.,  Hudson,  Oxford,  1698-1712,  and  Miiller, 
Paris,  1855-61);  Pliny's  Hist.  Nat.,\.  13-19;  Tacitus.  In  English,  cf.  Gibbon; 
Mommsen's  Provinces  of  the  Roiuan  Empire  ;  Schiirer's  Hist,  of  the  Jezvisk 
People  in  the  Time  of  Christ,  Eng.,  1890  ff.  ;  Morrison's  The  Jews  tinder 
Roman  Rule,  1890;  Mahaffy,  The  Greek  World  tinder  Roman  Stvay,  1 890. 


Syria  s  Place  in  History  1 7 

lives  of  some  saints,  and  some  writings  of  the  Fathers.^ 
It  is  supplemented  by  the  Christian  remains  (especially 
east  of  the  Jordan),  churches,  tombs,  and  houses,  with 
many  inscriptions  in  Greek  and  Aramceic.^  The  latest 
Greek  inscription  in  Eastern  Palestine  appears  to  be  from 
a  year  or  two  after  the  Moslem  invasion.  - 

The  next  European  settlement  in  Syria  was  very  much 
more  brief  The  Latin  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  de  facto 
lasted  from  1099  to  11 87 — not  ninety  years  ;  Authorities  on 
and  the  coast  was  Western  a  century  longer.  '^^  Crusades. 
All  the  more  are  we  astonished  at  the  impression  left  on 
the  land.  In  their  brief  day,  these  few  hundred  thousands 
of  colonists  and  warriors,  though  the  sword  was  never  out 
of  their  hand,  organised  the  land  into  a  feudal  kingdom  as 
fully  assigned,  cultivated,  and  administered  as  any  part  of 
contemporary  France  or  England.  Their  chroniclers^  do 
justice  to  their  courage  and  exploits  on  the  field,  as  well 
as  to  their  treachery,  greed,  and  lust  :  but  to  see  how  truly 
they  made  Syria  a  bit  of  the  West,  we  need  to  go  to  that 
wonderful  work,  the  Assizes  of  Jerusalem,  to  the  documents 

^  Eusebius,  History  of  the  Church  and  Life  of  Constaittine.  The  History 
was  continued  by  Socrates  for  the  years  306-439,  by  Sozomen  largely  in  imita- 
tion of  Socrates,  and  by  Theodoret  and  Evagrius  to  594.  Stephanus  Byzan- 
tinus  (probably  in  Justinian's  reign)  wrote  the  ''E6viKa,  of  which  we  have 
only  an  epitome.  The  history  of  Zosimus  is  that  of  the  Roman  Empire 
from  Augustus  to  410.  Jerome's  Letters  and  his  Commentaries,  passim. 
The  lives  especially  of  Hilarion,  by  Jerome,  and  of  Porphyry  in  the  Acta 
Sauctortim.     See  ch.  xi.  -  See  ch.  xxviii. 

'  The  best  are  William,  Archbishop  of  Tyre  (i  174-1188?),  Llistoriareriim 
in  partibiis  transmarinis  gestaruin  a  tempore  successorn7n  Mahiimeth  usque 
ad  A.D.  11S4 ;  Geoffrey  Vinsauf,  Ltinerariutn  Regis  Auglortim  liichardi ; 
Bongars'  Gcsta  Dei  per  Francos  ;  Jacques  do  Vitry  ;  De  Joinville's  Memoirs 
of  Louis  LX.  From  the  Saracen  side,  Boha-ed-Din's  Life  of  Saladin,  with 
excerpts  from  the  IListory  of  Abulfcda,  etc.,  ed.  Schultens,  1732  ;  and  Imad- 
ed-Din,  El-Katib  el  Isfahani  ;  Conqiicte  de  la  Syrie  et  de  la  Palestine,  publis 
par  le  Comte  Carlo  de  Landberg  :  i.,  Texte  Arabe.     Leyden,  1888. 

B 


8      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


of  the  great  Orders  of  Chivalry/  and  to  the  buildings 
they  have  scattered  all  over  the  land.^ 

The  pilgrim  literature,  which,  apart  from  trade,  repre- 
sents the  sole  connection  between  the  West  and  Syria  in 
Pilgrims  and     ^^^^  ccnturies   between  the  Moslem  invasion 
Traders.  ^^^  ^.j^^  Crusades  and  between  the  Crusades 

and  last  century,  is  exceedingly  numerous.  Most  of  it,  too, 
is  accessible  in  modern  translations.^  After  the  Crusades 
the  Venetians  and  Genoese  continued  for  a  century  or 
two  their  factories  on  the  Phoenician  coast,  by  which  the 
products  of  the  Far  East  came  to  Europe.* 

^  The  authorities  here  are  : —  E.  Rey,  Les  Colonies  Franques  de  Syrie,  aux 
xii""  et  xiii"^'  Sikhs,  Paris,  18S3  ;  Prutz,  Eiitwickehing  v.  Untergang  des 
Tempd-Herren  Ordens,  Berlin,  1888  (not  seen) ;  Prutz's  and  Rohricht's  papers 
on  the  Charters,  Papal  Bulls,  and  other  documents  referring  to  the  Orden  der 
Deutsch  Herren  and  other  Orders  in  Z.D.P.  V.,  vols.  viii.  and  x.  See  also 
Conder's  papers  in  the  P.E.F.Q.,  vols.  18S9  ff.  The  best  edition  of  the 
Assizes  of  Jerusalem,  by  John  d'Ibelin,  is  Beugnot's  in  Rectceil  des  Historiens 
des  Croisades  (Paris,  1841-1881).  On  the  Crusades  generally,  cf.  Gibbon  ; 
Cox's  little  manual  in  the  Epochs  of  History  ;  Sybel,  Geschichte  der  Kreuzziige ; 
Kartell  u.  Plline  zur  Paldstina-kunde  aus  dem  7  bis  10  JahrJnindert,  by 
Bernhold  Rohricht,  i.,  ii.,  and  iii.,  in  Z.D.P.V.,  vols.  xiv.  and  xv.  ; 
Rohricht's  Regesta  Regni  Hierosolymitani,  1893  (not  seen). 

-  On  Crusading  masonry,  see  Conder  in  the  P.E.F.  Mem.,  Samaria  under 
Ccesarea,  and  Judsea  under  Ascalon.  On  the  fortresses,  see  Rey,  op.  cit. 
ch.  vii.,  with  plans  and  views.  On  the  churches,  De  Vogiie,  J^glises  de  la 
Terre  Sainte  ;  cf.  his  Architecture  civile  et  religieuse  de  la  Syrie. 

^  In  Bohn's  Early  Travels  in  Palestine ;  the  translations  of  the  Palestine 
Pilgrims'  Text  Society  ;  Tobler's  Itineraria  Hierosolymitana ;  the  French 
Archives  de  la  Societe  d'' Orient  Latin  ;  Carmoly's  Itineraires  de  la  Terre 
Saijite  des  xiii'"'-xvii""  siecles,  Bruxelles,  1847.  I  have  also  found  it  useful 
to  consult  Reyssbuch  des  heiligen  Landes,  das  ist  cine  grundtliche  Be- 
schreibu7ig  alter  u.  jeder  Meer  u.  Bilgerfahrten  zum  heyl.  Lande,  etc.  etc., 
Franckfort  am  Mayn,  MDLXXxni.  ;  the  indispensable  Quaresmius,  Historica, 
Theologica  et  Jlloralis  Terra  Sancta:  Elucidatio,  Antwerp,  1639  ;  and  Pietri 
Delia  Valle's  Reisebeschreibung,  translated  from  the  Italian,  Genff,  1674,  ^"^ 
only  a  few  of  his  '  Sendschreiben  '  refer  to  Syria. 

^  Besides  Rey,  who  treats  of  the  commerce  of  the  Crusades  [op.  cit.  ch.  ix.), 
the  only  authorities  I  know  of  are  Heyd,  Geschiclite  des  Levantehaiulcls  im  Mil- 
telalter,  Stuttgart,  1879,  2  vols.  ;  in  French,  much  enlarged,  Leipzig,  1885-S6, 
2  vols;  a.T\d Discorso so/>ra  il Commercio dcgli Italiani nel sec.  xiv.,  Roma,  1818. 


Syria  s  Place  in  History  1 9 

Of  Napoleon's  invasion  we  have  very  full  information, 
which  not  only  illustrates  the  position  of  Syria  as  debatable 
ground  between  the  East  and  the  West,  but  is  Napoleon's 
especially  valuable  for  the  light  it  throws  upon  invasion. 
the  military  geography  of  the  Holy  Land.  One  cannot 
desire  a  more  comprehensive,  a  more  lucid,  outline  of  the 
relations  of  Syria  to  Egypt,  to  Asia,  to  Europe,  than  is 
given  in  the  memoirs  of  his  campaigns,  dictated  by 
Napoleon  himself ;  ^  while  the  accounts  of  his  routes  and 
the  reasons  given  for  them,  his  sieges,  his  losses  from 
the  plague,  and  his  swift  retreat,  enable  us  to  understand 
the  movements  of  even  the  most  ancient  invaders  of  the 
land.  Napoleon's  memoirs  may  be  supplemented  by  the 
accounts  of  the  English  officers  who  were  with  the  Turkish 
forces.^ 

The  European  invasion  of  Syria,  which  belongs  to  our 
own  day,  is  already  making  its  impression  on  the  land. 
Nothing   surprised  the   writer   more,  on   his 

1    •  r.  r  Present  Influ- 

return  to  the  Holy  Land  m  1891,  after  an  enceof Europe- 
interval  of  eleven  years,  than  the  great  in- 
crease of  red  and  sloping  roofs  in  the  landscape.  These 
always  mean  the  presence  of  Europeans  :  and  where  they 
appear,  and  the  flat  roofs  beloved  of  Orientals  are  not 
visible,  then  the  truly  Western  aspect  of  nature  in  the  Holy 
Land  asserts  itself,  and  one  begins  to  understand  how 
Greeks,  Italians,  and  Franks  all  colonised,  and  for  cen- 
turies were  at  home  in,  this  province  of  Asia.  The  Temple 
Christians  from  Wiirttemberg  have  perhaps  done  more  to 
improve  the  surface  of  the  country  than  any  other  Western 

'  Guerre  de  r Orient :  Caiiipagnes  d'ligypte  et  de  Syrie.  Memoires  dictees 
par  Napoleon  lui-mcme  et  publiees  par  General  Bertrand,  Paris,  1847. 

^  Walsh,  Z?«ary  0/ the  late  Campaign,  ijcyg-iSoi ;  Wittman,  M.D.,  Travels 
in  Syria,  etc.,  ijgg-iSoi,  .  .  .  in  company  with  the  Turkish  Army, 


20     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

agency.^  A  Roman  Catholic  colony  has  been  planted  on 
the  shores  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee.  There  is  an  agricultural 
settlement  for  Jews  near  Jaffa,  another  colony  at  Artuf, 
and  the  Rothschild  settlements  above  Lake  Huleh.  The 
Plain  of  Esdraelon  is  in  the  hands  of  a  Greek  capitalist. 
Other  Western  settlers  are  scattered  over  Palestine  and 
Lebanon,  and  almost  everywhere  the  cultivation  of  the 
vine  and  the  silk-worm  is  spreading  rapidly  under  Euro- 
pean care.  Large  Circassian  colonies,  planted  by  the 
Turkish  Government  itself  near  Caesarea  and  east  of  Jordan, 
must  in  time  considerably  affect  both  the  soil  and  the 
population  about  them.^  But  the  most  important  material 
innovation  from  the  West  is  the  railway.  The  line  just  com- 
pleted between  Jaffa  and  Jerusalem  will  be  useful,  it  seems, 
only  for  pilgrims.  Much  more  effect  on  the  future  of  Syria 
may  be  expected  from  the  line  which  follows  the  natural 
routes  of  commerce  and  war  through  the  land  from  Haifa 
to  Damascus.^  Not  only  will  it  open  up  the  most  fertile 
parts  of  the  country,  and  bring  back  European  civilisation 
to  where  it  once  was  supreme,  on  the  east  of  Jordan  ; 
but  if  ever  European  arms  return  to  the  country — as,  in 
a  contest  for  Egypt  or  for  the  Holy  Places,  when  may  they 

^  On  these  interesting  colonies  see  their  journal,  Die  Warte  des  Tempels  ; 
papers  in  recent  volumes  of  the  Z.D.P.  V.  ;  and  the  account  of  them  in  Ross, 
Cradle  of  Clmstianity ,  London,  1891. 

-  Their  three  chief  colonies  are  Csesarea,  Jerash,  and  Rabbath  Ammon, 
the  last  two  of  which  I  visited  in  1891.  The  Government  plays  them  and 
the  Beduin  off  against  each  other.  They  are  increasing  the  area  of  cultivated 
land,  and  improving  the  methods  of  agriculture.  Perhaps  the  greatest  change 
is  their  introduction  of  wheeled  vehicles,  which  have  not  been  seen  in  Palestine 
since  the  Crusades,  except  within  the  last  twenty  years,  when  they  have  been 
confined  to  the  Jaffa-Jerusalem  and  Beyrout-Damascus  roads  and  the  Temple 
colonies.     See  Appendix  on  '  Roads  and  Wheeled  Vehicles.' 

^  Across  Esdraelon,  over  the  Jordan  by  Bethshan,  round  the  south-east 
corner  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  to  opposite  Tiberias,  then  up  the  gorge  of  Fik 
to  the  plateau  of  the  Plauran,  and  so  to  Damascus. 


Syria  s  Place  in  History  2 1 

not  return  ? — this  railway  running  from  the  coast  across 
the  central  battle-field  of  Palestine  will  be  of  immense 
strategic  value.-^ 


III.  Syria's  Opportunity  Westward. 

In  the  two  previous  sections  of  this  chapter  we  have 
seen  Syria  only  in  the  passive  state,  overrun  by  those 
Arabian  tribes  who  have  always  formed  the  stock  of  her 
population,  and  traversed,  conquered  and  civilised  by  the 
great  races  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe.  But  in  the 
two  remaining  sections  we  are  to  see  Syria  in  the  active 
state — we  are  to  see  these  Arab  tribes,  who  have  made 
her  their  home,  pushing  through  the  single  opportunity 
given  to  them,  and  exercising  that  influence  in  which 
their  glory  and  hers  has  consisted.  It  will  be  best  to 
describe  first  the  Opportunity,  and  then  the  Influence 
itself — which,  of  course,  was  mainly  that  of  religion. 


In  early  times  Syria  had  only  one  direction  along  which 
she  could  exercise  an  influence  on  the  rest  of  the  world. 
We  have  seen  that  she  had  nothing  to  give  svria's  Single 
to  the  great  empires  of  the  Nile  and  Euphra-  Opening. 
tes  on  either  side  of  her  ;  from  them  she  could  be  only 
a  borrower.  Then  Mount  Taurus,  though  no  barrier  to 
peoples  descending  upon  Syria  from  Asia  Minor,  seems 
always  to  have  barred  the  passage  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion.    The  Semitic  race  has  never  crossed  Mount  Taurus. 

^  The  European  missionary  and  educational  establishments  fall  rather  under 
the  section  of  Religion. 


2  2      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Practically,  therefore,  early  Syria's  only  opening  lay  sea- 
wards. If  she  had  anything  to  pour  forth  of  her  own,  or 
of  what  she  had  borrowed  from  the  civilisations  on  either 
side  of  her,  this  must  be  the  direction  of  outflow.  So  some 
of  her  tribes,  whose  race  had  hitherto  been  known  only  as 
land  traders,  voyagers  of  the  desert,  pushed  out  from  her 
coasts  upon  the  sea.  They  found  it  as  studded  with 
islands  as  the  desert  is  studded  with  oases,  and  by  means 
of  these  they  gradually  reached  the  very  west  of  Europe. 
The  first  of  these  islands  is  within  sight  of  Syria. 
Cyprus  is  clearly  visible  from  the  hills  of  northern  Syria 
immediately  opposite  to  it,  and  at  certain  sea- 

The  Mediter-  J      vr 

ranean  sons  of  the  year  may  even  be  descried  from 

Islands.  ,  -r-.    •  i-  /-. 

Lebanon  above  Beirut.^  From  Cyprus  the 
coast  of  Asia  Minor  is  within  reach,  and  the  island  of 
Rhodes  at  the  beginning  of  the  Greek  Archipelago  ; 
whence  the  voyage  was  easy,  even  for  primitive  naviga- 
tion, to  the  Greek  mainland,  Sicily,  Malta,  the  African 
coast,  Spain  and  the  Atlantic,  or  north  by  Italy  to  Sar- 
dinia, Corsica  and  the  coast  of  Gaul.  Along  those  islands 
and  coasts  the  line  of  Phoenician  voyages  can  be  traced 
by  the  deposit  of  Semitic  names,  inscriptions  and  legends.^ 

^  See  ch.  vii.,  on  the  Coast. 

^  For  the  Phoenician  inscriptions  in  Cyprus,  Rhodes,  Sicily,  Malta, 
Carthage,  Sardinia,  Spain,  and  Marseilles,  see  the  Corpus  Inscriptionum 
Semilicarnm,  vol.  i.  part  i.  For  names,  take  the  following  as  instances : — 
Kition,  in  Cyprus,  is  the  Hebrew  Chittim  (see  ch.  vii.).  Mount  Atabyrus, 
in  Rhodes,  is  Mount  Tabor,  a  Semitic  term  for  height.  Here  Diodorus  tells 
us  Zeus  was  worshipped  as  a  bull,  evidently  a  trace  of  the  Baal-Moloch 
worship.  On  many  ^gean  islands  the  worship  of  Chronos  points  to  the 
same  source.  The  Cyprian  Aphrodite  herself  is  just  Ashtoreth  ;  and  her 
great  feast  was  at  the  usual  Semitic  festival  season  in  the  beginning  of  April, 
her  sacrifice  a  sheep  (Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Setnites,  p.  387).  One 
proof  of  Phoenician  influence  is  the  presence  of  BeryXat  (  =  Beth-el),  or  sacred 
stones,  conical  or  ovoid  pillars.      One  was  in  the  temple  of  Aphrodite  at 


Syria  s  Place  in  History 


It  is  not  surprising  that  the  early  Greek  civih'sation,  which 
they  did  so  much  to  form,  should  have  given  the  Phoeni- 
cians the  fame  of  inventors.  But  they  were  Phoenician 
not  much  more  than  carriers.  At  this  early  influence. 
stage  of  her  history  Syria  had  little  to  give  to  the  West 
except  what  she  had  wholly  or  partly  borrowed.  Her 
art  was  Egyptian  ;  the  letters  she  introduced  to  Europe 
were  from  Egyptian  sources  ;  even  the  commercial  terms 
which  she  brought  into  the  Greek  language  from  Asia  may 
not  have  been  her  own.  But  quite  original  were  other 
droppings  of  her  trade  on  Greece — names  of  the  letters,  of 
vegetables,  metals,  and  some  wares,^  and  most,  though  not 
all,  of  the  religion  she  conveyed.  The  exact  debt  of  Greek 
religion  to  Phoenicia  will  never  be  known,  but  the  more 
we  learn  of  both  races  the  more  we  see  how  big  it  was. 
Myths,  rites,  morals,  all  spread  westwards,  and  formed 
some  of  the  earliest  constituents  of  Greek  civilisation. 
The  most  of  the  process  was  probably  over  before  history 
begins,  for  Tarshish  was  in  existence  by  iioo  B.C.;  and 

Paphos  (Tacitus,  Hist.  ii.  3).  In  Sicily  a  Carthaginian  coin  has  been  dis- 
covered with  the  legend  'BARAT'='the  wells,'  the  Phoenician  name  for 
Syracusa.  Farther  west,  Carthage  is  Qarta  Iladasha,  '  the  New  City ' ;  Cadiz, 
or  Gades,  is  Gadira,  from  '  gadir,'  a  fenced  place  (see  Bloch's  Phceniciaii 
Glossary).  Tarshish  is  also  of  Semitic  formation,  but  of  doubtful  meaning. 
Port  Mahon,  in  Minorca,  is  from  the  Carthaginian  general,  Mago.  Among 
the  legends  are,  of  course,  those  of  Perseus  and  Andromeda,  Cadmus  (from 
'Kedem,'  the  East),  Europa,  etc. 

^  The  following  are  some  of  the  Phoenician  loanwords  in  Greek  : — The 
names  of  the  letters  Alpha,  Beta,  etc.  ;  commercial  terms,  appa^wv,  interest 

=  |my;  (iva.,  weight  or  coin  =  nJO;  Ki^aWrjs,  pirate,  fitim  ??C,  booty. 
The  name  of  at  least  one  animal,  ?D3  =  the  camel;  names  of  vegetables, 
like  v<T(7uiros  =  y\]ii;  /3a\ira>uot'  =  DCO ;  Kvjrpos,  Lawsonia  alba  =  "lD3  ;  \tj3avoi, 
frankincense  tree  =  n3D?;  Kacrta  =  JiyVp,  etc.  etc.  ;  of  other  objects,  x'twi'  = 

njnS  (?)  ;  kXw/3os,  bird-cage  =  31  ?3,  etc.  The  religious  term  BeTi'Xot  =  sacred 
stones,  is  the  Semitic  Bcit-el,  or  Bethel. 


24      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

perhaps  the  Phoenician  migration  and  establishment  of 
colonies  in  the  West  was  connected  with  the  disturbances 
in  Syria  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Another  important 
emigration  took  place  five  centuries  later.  About  800, 
some  fugitives  from  Tyre  founded  near  an  old 
Phoenician  settlement  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
opposite  Sicily,  another  colony  called  Oarta  Hadasha. 
That  is  almost  good  Hebrew  for  '  the  New  City,'  and 
has  been  corrupted  by  the  Greeks  into  Carchedon,  and 
by  the  Romans  into  Carthago.  In  the  sixth  century 
Carthage  obtained  the  sovereignty  over  her  sister  colonies 
in  the  West ;  ^  and  in  the  fifth  century,  while  the  Northern 
East  under  Persia  assailed  Greece  across  Asia  Minor,  the 
Semitic  portion  of  the  East  twice  assailed  Greece  across 
Sicily  under  the  leadership  of  Carthage.^  The  second 
assault  was  led  by  one  whose  name  was  Hannibal,  and 
whose  title,  like  that  of  all  Phoenician  magistrates,  was 
Shophct.  But  Shophet  is  pure  Hebrew,  the  title  of 
Israel's  rulers  from  Joshua  to  Samuel.  And  Hannibaal 
is  just  '  the  grace  of  Baal'  Put  Jah  for  Baal,  and  you  have 
the  Hebrew  Hananiah  ;  or  reverse  the  word,  and  you  have 
Johanan,  the  Greek  loannes  and  our  John.^  The  Greek 
colonies  in  Sicily  held  their  own — held  their  own,  but  did 
not  drive  the  invaders  forth.  It  was  reserved  for  another 
power  to  do  this  and  keep  the  Semite  out  of  Europe. 

The  first  Punic — that  is,  Poinic,  ^o'ivlko^,  Phoenician — 

War,  in  which  Rome  engaged,  was  for  Sicily,  and  Rome 

Her  Defeat     ^"^^^  ^^'  expelling  the    Syrian    colonists   from 

by  Rome.      ^^    island.      In    revenge,    Hamilcar    crossed 

the   Straits    of    Gibraltar    in    237  ;   and  by  218    his    son, 

1  Freeman's  Sicily  {Story  of  the  Nations  series),  p.  56. 

-  480-473,  and  again  413-404.  ^  Cf.  Freeman,  op.  cit.,  p.  21. 


Syria's  Place  in  History  25 

Hannibal  the  Great,  had  conquered  Spain,  and  crossed  the 
Alps  into  Italy.  But  again  it  was  proved  that  Europe 
was  not  to  be  for  the  Semites,  and  Hannibal  was  driven 
back.  By  205  the  Romans  had  conquered  the  Iberian 
peninsula,  passed  over  into  Africa,  and  made  that  a 
Roman  province.^  How  desperate  was  the  struggle, 
how  firmly  the  Syrians  had  planted  themselves  in  the 
West,  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  seven  hundred  years 
after  the  destruction  of  Carthage  men  still  talked  Punic 
or  Phoenician  in  North  Africa ;  the  Bible  itself  was  trans- 
lated into  the  language,^  and  this  only  died  out  before  its 
kindred  dialect  of  Arabic  in  the  eighth  century  of  our  era. 
During  the  glory  of  Carthage  the  Phoenician  navies, 
crowded  out  of  the  eastern  Mediterranean  by  the  Greek 
and   Italian   races,  pushed  westward  through 

'    ^  *=*        Further 

the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  to  the  Canary  Isles,^  to    Phoenician 

Voyages. 

a  strange  sea  of  weeds  which  may  have  been 
the  same  Columbus  met  towards  America,^  to  the  west  of 
Gaul,  the  Scilly  Isles,^  and  therefore  surely  to  Britain  ; 
while  an  admiral  of  Tyre,  at  the  motion  of  Pharaoh  Necho, 
circumnavigated  Africa  in  600  B.C.,^  or  2000  years  before 
Vasco  da  Gama. 

After  the  fall  of  Carthage — the  fall  of  Tyre  had  hap- 
pened  a   hundred   years   before — the    Phoenician   genius 
confined  itself  to  trading,  with  occasionally  a   l^j^^ 
little  mercenary  war.     Under  the  Roman  Em-    P^°s""=ia. 
pire,  Phoenicians  were  to  be  found  all  round  the  Mediter- 
ranean, with  their  own  quarters  and  temples  in  the  large 

^  Fifty  years  later  they  were  interfering  in  the  affairs  of  the  real  Phoenicia, 
and  one  hundred  and  fifty  later  they  had  reduced  Syria  to  a  province  also. 
-  Augustine.  ^  Diodorus  Siculus,  v.  19-20. 

"•  Scylax,  Periplus,  1 12,  in  the  Geographi  Grceci  Minores  (ed.  Midler,  i.  93). 
'  Cassiterides,  or  tin  islands  (Strabo,  iii.  v.  11).  .  ^  Herodotus,  iv.  42. 


2  6      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

towns.  When  Rome's  hold  on  the  East  became  firm  at 
the  beginning  of  our  era,  Syrians^  flowed  into  Italy — as 
Juvenal  puts  it,  the  Orontes  into  the  Tiber.  There  were 
a  few  good  rhetoricians,  grammarians,  poets  and  wits 
among  them,  but  the  mass  were  slave-dealers,  panders 
and  mongers  of  base  superstitions. 

During  all  this  time — from  the  thirteenth  century  of  the 
old  era  to  the  first  of  the  new — there  had  stood  upon  the 
highlands  immediately  behind  Phoenicia  a  nation  speaking 
almost  identically  the  same  dialect ;  and  this  nation  had 
heard  the  Phoenician  tales  of  those  western  isles  and  coasts: 
Israel  and  °^  Chittim,  that  is,  Cyprus,  and  of  Rodan,  that 
Phcenicia.  jg^  Rhodes;  Javan,  or  the  lonians ;  Elissa, 
some  farther  coast  of  Sicily  or  Italy  ;  and  Tarshish,  which 
was  the  limit  in  Spain.  And  though  this  tribe  had  no 
port  of  their  own,  nor  were  in  touch  with  the  sea  at  all, 
their  imagination  followed  the  Phoenician  voyages,  but 
with  a  nobler  ambition  than  that  of  gain,  and  claimed 
those  coast-lands,  on  which  the  gross  Semitic  myths  had 
caught,  for  high  ideals  of  justice,  mercy,  and  the  know- 
ledge of  the  true  God.^  When  one  has  learned  the 
impressionableness  of  the  early  Greek  to  the  religion 
which  Syria  sent  him  by  the  Phoenicians,  and  remembers 
how  closely  Israel  stood  neighbour  to  Phoenicia  in  place, 
in  language,  in  political  alliance,  one's  fancy  starts  the 
question,  What  if  Phoenicia  had  also  been  the  carrier  of 
Israel's  faith,  as  of  Egypt's  letters,  Babylon's  wares  and 
the  wild  Semitic  myths !  It  was  impossible.  When 
Phoenicia  was  still  a  religious  influence  in  the  West,  Israel 
either  had  not  arrived  in  Palestine,  or  was  not  so  expert 
in  the  possibilities  of  her  own  religion  as  to  commend  it 

^  Also  Nabateans,  cf.  C.I.S.,  P.  i.  torn.  ii.  1S3  K.  ^  Isaiah  xlii. 


Syria's  Place  in  History  27 

to  other  peoples — though  those  were  her  neighbours  and 
kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh  ;  and  when  Israel  knew 
herself  as  God's  servant  to  the  whole  world,  and  con- 
ceived Phoenician  voyages  as  means  of  spreading  the 
truth  westward,  the  Phoenicians  were  no  longer  the  cor- 
respondents, but  the  enemies,  of  every  other  race  upon  the 
northern  and  western  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  Take, 
for  instance,  the  time  of  Elijah,  when  Israel  j^  ^j^^  ^5^^^^ 
and  Phoenicia  stood  together  perhaps  more  ofEhjah. 
closely  than  at  any  other  period.  The  slope  of  religious 
influence  was  then,  not  from  Israel  to  Phoenicia,  but  from 
Phoenicia  to  Israel.  It  is  the  attempt  to  spread  into 
foreign  lands  the  worship  of  Baal,  not  the  worship  of 
Jehovah,  that  we  see.  It  is  Jezebel  who  is  the  mission- 
ary, not  Elijah  ;  and  the  paradox  is  perfectly  intelligible. 
The  zeal  of  Jezebel  proceeded  from  these  two  conceptions 
of  religion :  that  among  the  same  people  several  gods 
might  be  worshipped  side  by  side — Phoenician  Baal  in  the 
next  temple  to  Jehovah  of  Israel ;  and  that  religion  was 
largely  a  matter  of  politics.  Because  she  was  queen  in 
Israel,  and  Baal  was  her  god,  therefore  he  ought  to  be  one  of 
Israel's  gods  as  well.  But  it  is  better  not  to  be  a  mission- 
ary-religion at  all  than  to  be  one  on  such  principles  ;  and 
Israel's  task  just  then  was  to  prove  that  Jehovah  was  the 
one  and  only  God  for  her  own  life.  If  she  first  proved 
this  on  the  only  true  ground — that  He  was  the  God  of 
justice  and  purity — then  the  time  would  certainly  come 
when  He  would  appear,  for  the  same  reason,  the  God  of  the 
whole  earth,  with  irresistible  claims  upon  the  allegiance  of 
Phoenicia  and  the  West.  So,  with  one  exception,  Elijah 
confined  his  prophetic  work  to  Israel,  and  looked  seaward 
only  for  rain.    But  by  Naboth's  vineyard  and  other  matters 


28      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

he  taught  his  people  so  well  the  utter  difference  of  Jehovah 
from  other  gods — being  as  He  was  identical  with  righteous- 
ness, and  therefore  supreme — that  it  naturally  followed 
that  Israel  should  see  This  was  the  Deity  whose  interests, 
whose  activity,  whose  dominion  were  universal.  But  that 
carries  us  into  the  heart  of  our  next  subject,  the  Religion 
In  the  later  °^  Syria — the  inquiry,  why  Israel  alone  of 
Prophets.  Syrian  tribes  came  to  so  pure  a  faith,  and  so 
sure  a  confidence  of  its  victory  over  the  world.  Let  us 
finish  this  section  by  pointing  out  that  when  the  prophets 
of  Israel  did  rise  to  the  consciousness  of  the  universal 
dominion  of  their  religion,  it  was  to  Phoenician  means — 
those  far  Phoenician  voyages  we  have  been  following — 
that  they  looked  for  carrying  it  into  effect.  To  the 
prophets  Phoenicia  and  her  influence  are  a  great  and  a 
sacred  thing.  They  exult  in  her  opportunities,  in  her 
achievements.  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel  bewail  the  destruction 
of  Tyre  and  her  navies  as  desecration.  Isaiah  cannot 
believe  it  to  be  final.  He  sees  Phoenicia  rising  purified 
by  her  captivity  to  be  the  carrier  of  true  religion  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth.^ 


IV.  The  Religion  of  Syria. 

We  have  seen  that  Syria,  Esh-Sham,  is  but  '  the  north ' 
end  of  the  Semitic  world,  and  that  from  the  earliest  times 
her  population  has  been  essentially  Semitic.  By  this  it 
was  determined  that  her  role  in  history  should  be  predomi- 
nantly the  religious.  The  Semites  are  the  religious  leaders 
of  humanity.     The  three  great  monotheisms  have  risen 

^  Isaiah  xxiii.  ;  Ezekiel  xxvi.  ff. 


Syria  s  Place  in  History  29 

among  them  ;  the  grandest  prophets  of  the  world  have 
been  their  sons.  For  this  high  destiny  the  race  were 
prepared  by  their  age-long  seclusion  in  Arabia. 

The  Religious 

In  the  deserts  of  Arabia,  life  is  wonderfully   temper  o^f  the 

,  ,.         Semites. 

tempered.  JNature  is  monotonous,  the  dis- 
tractions are  few,  the  influence  of  things  seen  is  as  weak 
as  it  may  be  in  this  universe  ;  the  long  fasts,  necessary 
every  year,  purge  the  body  of  its  grosser  elements,  the  soul 
easily  detaches  itself,  and  hunger  lends  the  mind  a  curious 
passion,  mixed  of  resignation  and  hot  anger.  The  only 
talents  are  those  of  war  and  of  speech — the  latter  culti- 
vated to  a  singular  augustness  of  style  by  the  silence  of 
nature  and  the  long  leisure  of  life.^  It  is  the  atmosphere 
in  which  seers,  martyrs,  and  fanatics  are  bred.  Conceive 
a  race  subjected  to  its  influences  for  thousands  of  years ! 
To  such  a  race  give  a  creed,  and  it  will  be  an  apostolic 
and  a  devoted  race. 

Now,  it  has  been  maintained  that  the  desert  did  furnish 
the  Arab  with  a  creed,  as  well  as  with  a  religious  tempera- 
ment. M.  Renan  has  declared  that  the  Semite,  living 
where  nature  is  so  uniform,  must  be  a  monotheist;"  but 
this  thesis  has  been  disproved  by  every  fact  ^^^  naturally 
discovered  among  the  Semites  since  it  was  Monotheists. 
first  promulgated.  The  Semitic  religions,  with  two  excep- 
tions (one  of  which,  Islam,  is  largely  accounted  for  by  the 

^  Our  chief  authorities  for  life  in  Arabia  in  ancient  and  modern  times  are 
such  travellers  as  Ludovico  Varthcma,  who  went  down  with  the  Haj  to  Mecca 
in  1503  (Hakluyt  Society's  publications)  ;  Burckhardt,  Burton,  and  especially 
Doughty  {^Arabia  Dcserta,  2  vols.,  Cambridge,  1887),  who  knows  the 
Bedawee,  '  the  unsophisticated  Semite,'  as  never  Western  did  before.  Cf. 
Wellhausen,  Skizzen,  etc.,  iii.,  Reste  des  Arabischen  Hcidentiims  ;  Robertson 
Smith,  Marriage  and  Kinship  in  Arabia  and  The  Religion  of  the  Semites. 

-  Histoire  des  langties  sc!?iiti(/ues,  ed.  3,  1S63  ;  'De  la  part  des  peuples 
semitiques,'  Asiatic  Review,  Feb.  and  May  1859  ;  and,  in  a  modified  form, 
in  his  Histoire  d^ Israel,  vol.  i. 


30      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

other,  Judaism),  have  not  been  monotheistic.  Introduced 
to  the  Euphrates  valley,  or  to  Syria,  where  the  forces  of 
nature  are  as  complex  and  suggestive  of  many  gods  as 
any  part  of  the  Aryan  world  itself,  the  Semite  has  gone 
the  way  of  the  Aryans — nay,  has  preceded  them  in  this 
way,  not  only  developing  a  polytheism  and  mythology 
of  great  luxuriance,  but  proving  its  missionary  to  the 
Greeks.  The  monotony  of  the  desert,  however,  counts 
for  som.ething ;  the  desert  does  not  tempt  to  polytheism. 
Besides,  all  Semitic  religions  have  been  distinguished  by 
a  tendency  which  makes  strongly  for  unity.  Within 
each  tribe  there  was  but  one  tribal  god,  who  was  bound 
up  with  his  people's  existence,  and  who  was  their  only 
lord  and  head.  This  belief  was  favourable  to  monotheism. 
It  trained  men  to  reduce  all  things  under  one  cause,  to 
fix  their  attention  on  a  sovereign  deity ;  and  the  desert, 
bare  and  monotonous,  conspired  with  the  habit. 

We  may,  then,  replace  Renan's  thesis,  that  the  Semite 

was   a   born    monotheist,    by  this :   that   in    the   Semitic 

religion,  as  in  the  Semitic  world,  monotheism 

An  Oppor- 
tunity for  had  a  great  opportunity.    There  was  no  neces- 

Monotheism.  i-ai-i  r  ii-i  r 

sary  creed  m  Arabia,  but  lor  the  highest  form 
of  religion  there  was  room  and  sympathy  as  nowhere  else 
in  the  world  to  the  same  degree. 

Of  this  opportunity  only  one  Semitic  tribe  took  advan- 
tage, and  the  impressive  fact  is  that  the  advantage  was 

taken,  not  in  Arabia,  but  in  Syria  herself — that 

Uniqueness         .  ,  -i        i  •    i  i  i 

of  Israel's         IS  to  Say,  on  the  soil  whose  rich  and  complex 

Monotheism.       -  ,  ,,        ,         ^         .   .  .,  ^ 

lorces  drew  all  other  Semitic  tribes  away  from 
the  austerity  of  their  desert  faith,  and  turned  them  into 
polytheists  of  the  rankest  kind.  The  natural  fertility  of 
Syria,  as  we  shall  see  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  intoxicated 

J 


Syria's  Place  in  History  3 1 

her  immigrants  with  nature-worship  ;  the  land  was 
covered,  not  by  one  nation  with  its  one  god,  but  by 
many  little  tribes,  each  with  its  patron  and  lord  ;  while, 
to  make  confusion  worse  confounded,  the  influence  of  the 
powerful  idolatries  of  Egypt  and  Mesopotamia  met  and 
were  combined  upon  her.  Yet  Syria,  and  not  the  Desert 
of  Arabia,  was  the  cradle  of  monotheism.  The  period 
in  which  this  became  manifest  was,  no  doubt,  one  when 
her  history  for  the  first  time  counteracted  to  some  degree 
the  variety  of  her  natural  charms,  the  confusion  of  her 
many  faiths.  Israel's  monotheism  became  indisputable 
in  the  centuries  from  the  eighth  to  the  sixth  B.C.,  the 
period  of  the  great  Assyrian  invasions  described  in  Sec- 
tion II.  of  this  chapter.  Before  the  irresistible  Assyrian 
advance  the  tribal  gods  of  Syria — always  identified  with 
the  stability  of  their  peoples — went  down  one  after  another, 
and  history  became  reduced  to  a  uniformity  analogous  to 
that  of  nature  in  the  Semitic  desert.  It  was  in  meeting 
the  problems,  which  this  state  of  affairs  excited,  that  the 
genius  of  Israel  rose  to  a  grasp  of  the  world  as  a  whole, 
and  to  faith  in  a  sovereign  Providence.  This  Providence 
was  not  the  military  Empire  that  had  levelled  the  world  ; 
He  was  not  any  of  the  gods  of  Assyria.  He  was  Israel's 
own  tribal  Deit)',  who  was  known  to  the  world  but  as  the 
God  of  the  few  hills  on  which  His  nation  hardly  main- 
tained herself.  Fallen  she  was  as  low  as  her  neighbours  ; 
taunted  she  was  by  them  and  by  her  adversaries  to 
prove  that  Jehovah  could  save  her  any  more  than  the 
gods  of  Hamath  or  Damascus  or  the  Philistines  had  saved 
them  :  ^  yet  both  on  the  eve  of  her  fall,  and  in  her  deepest 
abasement,  Israel  affirmed  that  Jehovah  reigned  ;  that  He 

^  Isaiah  X.  S-Ii  ;  xxxvi.  18-20;  xxxvii.  12,  13. 


32      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

was  Lord  of  the  hosts  of  heaven  and  earth ;  that  Assyria 
was  only  a  tool  in  His  hand. 

Why  did  Israel  alone  rise  to  this  faith  ?  Why  did  no 
other  of  the  gods  of  the  Syrian  clans,  Baals  and  Molochs, 
take  advantage  of  the  opportunity?  Why  should  the 
people  of  Jehovah  alone  see  a  universal  Providence  in 
the  disasters  which  they  shared,  and  ascribe  it  to  Him  ? 

The  answer  to  these  questions  is  the  beginning  of  Syria's 

supreme  rank  in  the  religious  history  of  mankind.     It  is 

writ,  beyond  all  misreading,  in  the  prophets 

The  reason  of  .  ,   .        ,       ,  .  -  -  i       i  •   i 

Israel's  Mono-  of  the  time  and  m  the  history  ot  Israel  which 
preceded  the  prophets.  To  use  their  own 
phrase,  the  prophets  saw  Jehovali  exalted  in  righteousness. 
And  this  was  not  their  invention  :  it  had  been  implicit  in 
Israel's  conception  of  Jehovah  from  a  very  early  age.  In 
what  are  confessedly  ancient  documents,  Jehovah  is  the 
cause  of  Israel's  being,  of  the  union  of  their  tribes,  of  their 
coming  to  Palestine,  of  their  instinct  to  keep  separate  from 
other  peoples,  even  when  they  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
conscious  of  a  reason  why.  But  from  the  first  this  influ- 
ence upon  them  was  ethical.  It  sifted  the  great  body  of 
custom  and  law  which  was  their  common  heritage  with  all 
other  Semitic  tribes ;  it  added  to  this  both  mercy  and 
justice,  mitigating  the  cruelty  of  some  laws,  where  innocent 
or  untried  life  was  in  danger,  but  strenuously  enforcing 
others,  where  custom,  greed  or  tyranny  had  introduced 
carelessness  with  regard  to  the  most  sacred  interests  of 
life.^  We  may  not  always  be  sure  of  the  dates  of  these 
laws,  but  it  is  past  all  doubt  that  the  ethical  agent  at 

^  As,  for  instance,  in  the  matter  of  homicide.  Tlie  contrast  of  Israel's  laws 
on  this  with  the  prevailing  Semitic  customs,  is  very  significant  of  the  ethical 
superiority  of  Israel. 


Syria's  Place  in  History 


work  in  them  was  at  work  in  Israel  from  the  beginning, 
and  was  the  character,  the  justice,  the  hoh'ness  of  Jehovah. 
But  at  first  it  was  not  in  law  so  much  as  in  the  events  of 
the  people's  history  that  this  character  impressed  them. 
They  knew  all  along  that  He  had  found  them,  chosen 
them,  brought  them  to  the  land,  borne  with  them,  forgiven 
them,  redeemed  them  in  His  love  and  in  His  pity,  so 
that,  though  it  were  true  that  no  law  had  come  to  them 
from  Him,  the  memory  of  all  He  had  been  to  them,  the 
influence  of  Himself  in  their  history,  would  have  remained 
their  distinction  among  the  peoples.  Even  in  that  rude 
time  His  grace  had  been  mightier  than  His  law. 

On  such  evidence  we  believe  the  assertion  of  the 
prophets,  that  what  had  made  Israel  distinct  from  her 
kinsfolk,  and  endowed  her  alone  with  the  solu- 

Revelation. 

tion  of  the  successive  problems  of  history  and 
with  her  high  morality,  was  the  knowledge  of  a  real  Being 
and  intercourse  with  Him.  This  is  what  Revelation  means. 
Revelation  is  not  the  promulgation  of  a  law,  nor  the  predic- 
tion of  future  events,  nor  '  the  imparting  to  man  of  truths, 
which  he  could  not  find  out  for  himself.'  All  these  ideas 
of  Revelation  are  modern,  and  proved  false  by  the  only 
true  method  of  investigation  into  the  nature  of  Revela- 
tion, viz.,  a  comparison  of  Scripture  with  those  heathen 
religions  from  which  the  religion  of  Israel  sprang,  but  was 
so  differentiated  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  Such  a  comparison 
shows  us  that  the  subject  of  Revelation  is  the  character 
of  God  Himself.  God  had  chosen  the  suitable  Semitic 
temper  and  circumstance  to  make  Himself  known  through 
them  in  His  righteousness  and  love  for  men.  This  alone 
raised  Israel  to  her  mastery  of  history  in  the  Assyrian 
period,  when  her  political  fortunes  were  as  low,  and  her 

C 


34     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

extinction,  humanly  speaking,  as  probable  as  that  of  her 
kindred.  This  alone  preserved  her  in  loyalty  to  her  God, 
and  in  obedience  to  His  law,  during  the  following  centuries, 
when  the  other  Syrian  peoples  gave  way  to  the  inrush  of 
the  Hellenic  spirit,  and  Zeus,  Athene,  Apollo,  Aphrodite 
and  the  goddesses  of  Fortune  and  Victory,  displaced,  or 
were  amalgamated  with,  the  discredited  Semitic  deities. 

Having  solved  with  the  prophets  the  problem  set  to 
her  faith  by  the  great  Oriental  empires,  Israel  entered — 
Israel  and  upon  the  Same  floor  of  Syria — on  her  struggle 
Hellenism.  ^^\\}^  ^he  Stranger  forces  of  the  West,  with  the 
genius  of  Hellenism,  and  with  the  dominion  of  Rome.  It 
is  interesting,  but  vain,  to  speculate  on  what  would  have 
happened  if  the  Maccabean  age  had  produced  a  mind  like 
Isaiah's  or  Jeremiah's,  or  had  met  Greece  with  another  spirit 
than  that  of  Ecclesiastes,  or  of  the  son  of  Sirach.  As  it  was, 
the  age  fell  far  below  that  of  the  prophets  in  insight  and  in 
faith.  The  age  of  the  Maccabees  is  a  return  to  that  of  the 
Judges  and  Saul,  with  the  Law  as  a  new  inspiration.  The 
spiritual  yields  to  the  material,  though  the  material  is  fought 
for  with  a  heroism  which  makes  the  period  as  brilliant  as 
any  in  the  history  of  Israel.  For  a  few  years  the  ideal 
borders  of  Israel  are  regained,  the  law  of  Moses  is  imposed 
on  Greek  cities,  the  sea  is  reached,  and  the  hope  of  Israel 
looks  westward  from  a  harbour  of  her  own.^  The  conflict 
with  Hellenism  intensifies  the  passion  for  the  Law,  the 
conflict  with  Rome,  the  passion  for  the  land  and  political 
independence.  In  either  case  it  is  the  material  form  which 
becomes  the  main  concern  of  the  people.  Nevertheless,  as 
Paul  has  taught  us  to  see  in  his  explanation  of  history .^ 
this  devotion  to  the  letter  of  Law  and  Prophecy  was  a 

^  See  p.  136.  2  Q_  Robertson  Smith,  O.T.J.C.,  315  ff. 


Syria's  Place  in  Histoiy 


discipline  for  something  higher.  By  keeping  the  command- 
ments, and  cherishing  the  hopes,  in  however  mechanical  a 
way,  Israel  held  herself  distinct  and  pure.  And,  therefore, 
though  she  felt  the  land  slipping  from  under  her,  and  con- 
soled herself,  as  her  hold  on  this  world  became  less  sure, 
with  an  extraordinary  development  of  apocalypse — visions 
of  another  world  that  are  too  evidently  the  refuges  of  her 
despair  in  this — she  still  kept  alive  the  divinest  elements 
in  her  religion,  the  gifts  of  a  tender  conscience,  and  of  the 
hope  of  a  new  redemption  under  the  promised  Messiah, 

He  came  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  came  when  the 
political  estate  of  Israel  was  very  low.  He  was  born  into 
the  Empire  :   He  grew  up  within  twenty  miles 

1  1  •   1     T->  Jesus  Christ. 

of  the  great  port  by  which  Rome  poured  her 
soldiers  and  officials  upon  His  land.  His  youth  saw 
Herod's  embellishment  of  Palestine  with  Greek  archi- 
tecture. The  Hellenic  spirit  breathed  across  all  the  land. 
Jesus  felt  the  might  and  the  advantage  of  these  forces, 
which  now  conspired  to  build  upon  Syria  so  rich  a  monu- 
ment of  Pagan  civilisation.  When  He  had  been  endowed 
by  the  Spirit  with  the  full  consciousness  of  what  He  could 
be,  He  was  tempted,  we  are  told,  to  employ  the  marvellous 
resources  of  Greece  and  Rome.  The  Devil  taketh  Him  up 
into  an  exceeding  high  mountain  and  showeth  Him  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of  them.  In  that  day 
such  a  vision  was  nowhere  in  the  world  so  possible  as  in 
Syria.  But  He  felt  it  come  to  Him  wedded  to  apostasy. 
All  these  things  will  I  give  thee,  if  thou  wilt  fall  down  and 
worship  me.  And  He  replied  from  the  Hebrew  Scriptures 
with  a  confession  of  allegiance  to  the  God  of  Israel :  Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan,  for  it  is  written,  Thou  shalt  worship 
Jehovah  thy  God,  a?id  Him  only  shalt  thou  serve.      Also 


;6      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


on  other  occasions  He  made  an  absolute  distinction 
between  Israel  and  the  Gentiles  :  Not  as  the  Gentiles,  He 
His  view  of  the  Said,  foY  after  all  these  things  do  the  Gentiles 
Gentile  world.  ^^^^^  ^^^  jj/^?^r  heavenly  Fatlier  knoweth  that  ye 
have  need  of  these  things.  Ye  zvorship  ye  hiow  not  ivhat,  we 
knozv  zuhat  we  zvorship,  for  the  salvation  is  from  the  Jews. 
I  am  not  sent  but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel. 

But  within  Israel  and  her  Scriptures  Jesus  made  great 
distinctions.  He  said  that  much  of  Scripture  was  tem- 
His  judgment  porary,  given  at  the  time  because  of  the  hard- 
of  Israel.  ^ci&ss  of  the  people's  hearts,  laws  and  customs 
that  had  passed  away  with  the  rise  to  a  new  stage  in  God's 
education  of  the  world.  The  rest  He  confirmed,  He  used 
for  feeding  His  own  soul,  and  for  teaching  and  leading 
others  to  God.  Within  the  nation,  also,  He  distinguished 
between  the  true  and  the  false  Israel.  He  insisted  that, 
especially  of  late,  Judaism  had  gone  astray,  laying  too  much 
emphasis  on  the  letter  of  the  law,  nay,  adding  intolerably 
to  this,  and  wrongly,  foolishly,  desiring  the  external  king- 
dom. He  insisted  on  the  spiritual  as  against  the  external, 
on  the  moral  as  against  the  ceremonial,  on  grace  as  above 
law.  So  the  religious  authorities  were  moved  against  Him. 
But  their  chief  cause  of  offence — and  it  has  ever  since 
been  the  stumbling-block  of  many  who  count  His  ethical 
His  claims  teaching  supreme — was  the  claim  He  made 
for  Himself,  foj.  Himself  He  represented  Himself  not  only 
as  the  Messiah,  but  as  indispensable  to  the  race  ;  He  not 
only  read  the  whole  history  of  Israel  as  a  preparation  for 
Himself,  but,  looking  forward.  He  claimed  to  inspire,  to 
rule,  and  to  judge  all  history  of  men  for  all  time  to 
come.  A  little  bit  of  Syria  was  enough  for  His  own 
ministry,   but    He    sent     His    disciples    into    the    whole 


Syria  s  Place  in  History  37 

world.  Morality  He  identified  with  obedience  to  Himself. 
Men's  acceptance  by  God  He  made  dependent  on  their 
acceptance  of  His  claims  and  gifts.  He  announced  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  absolutely,  yet  connected  it  with  His 
own  death.  He  has  given  the  world  its  highest  idea  of  God, 
yet  He  made  Himself  one  with  God.  He  predicted  His 
death,  and  that  He  should  rise  again  :  and  to  His  disciples 
not  expecting  this  He  did  appear,  and,  in  the  power  of  their 
conviction  that  God  had  proved  His  words  and  given  Him 
the  victory  over  death.  He  sent  them  into  the  whole 
world — the  whole  world  to  which  every  port  in  Syria,  on 
sea  or  desert,  was  at  that  time  an  open  gateway. 

To  the  story  of  His  life  and  death,  to  the  testimony 
of  His  resurrection,  to  His  message  from  God,  the  Greek 
world  yielded,  which  had  refused  to  listen  to  Judaism.    All 
the  little  frontiers  and  distinctions  of  Syria  melted  before 
Him.     For  the  first  time,  without  the  force  of  arms,  the 
religion  of  Israel  left  the  highlands,  in  which  it  had  been 
so  long   confined,  and   flowed   out   upon  the 
plains.     With  the  Book  of  Acts  we  are  on  the   spread  of 
sea-coast  and  among  Greek  cities  ;    Peter  is      ^    °^^^ ' 
cured  of  his  Judaism  in  Caesarea,  and  the   Holy  Ghost 
descends  on   the   Gentiles ;   the   chief  persecutor  of  the 
Church  is  converted  on  pagan  soil,  at  Damascus  ;  the  faith 
spreads  to  Antioch,  and  then  bursts  westward  along  the 
old  Phoenician  lines,  by  Cyprus,  the  coasts  of  Asia  Minor, 
the  Greek  isles  and  mainland,  to  Italy,  Africa,  and  Spain. 

But  Christianity  had  not  yet  left  Syria.  As  we  shall 
see  when  we  come  to  visit  the  Maritime  Plain  and  the 
Hauran,  there  are  no  other  fields  in  the  world    cv.  ■  ■    ■ 

Christianity 

where  the  contest  of  Christianity  and  Paganism  ^"^  Paganism, 
was  more  critical,  or  has  left  more  traces.     Thij  histories 


38     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

of  Eusebius  and  his  followers,  the  lives  of  such  saints  as 
Porphyry  and  Hilarion,  relate  in  full  the  missionary 
labours,  the  persecutions,  the  martyrdoms,  and  the  am- 
biguous political  triumphs  of  the  Church  in  Philistia  and 
the  Shephelah.i  In  the  indestructible  basalt  of  Hauran 
there  are  monuments  of  the  passage  from  Paganism  to 
Christianity  even  more  numerous  and  remarkable  than 
the  catacombs  and  ruins  of  ancient  Rome.  There  are 
Christianity  ^'^'^  what  Italy  canuot  give  us — the  melan- 
and  Islam,  choly  wrecks  of  the  passage  from  Christianity 
to  Mohammedanism.  This  passage  was  accomplished 
within  a  few  years.  The  Mohammedan  era  began  in 
622,  Damascus  fell  in  634,  Jerusalem  in  637,  Antioch  in 
638.  The  last  Greek  inscription  in  Hauran  is  about  640, 
and  has  no  emperor's  name,  but  simply,  '  Christ  being 
King.'  2  The  reasons  of  this  rapid  displacement  of  the  one 
religion  by  the  other  are  very  clear.  When  they  met  and 
fought  for  Syria,  Christianity  was  corrupt,  and  identified 
with  a  political  system  that  was  sapped  by  luxury  and  rent 
asunder  by  national  strifes  ;  Mohammedanism  was  simple, 
austere,  full  of  faith,  united,  and  not  yet  so  intolerant  as 
it  afterwards  became.  Many  Christians  accepted  with 
joy  the  change  of  ruler  ;  few  believed  that,  in  the  end,  he 
would  enforce  a  change  of  faith  as  well.  But  afterwards 
the  persecution  settled  steadily  down.  The  Christians 
were  driven  to  the  heights  of  Lebanon,  or  were  suffered 
to  remain  only  about  Jerusalem,  Bethlehem,  Damascus, 
and  a  few  other  localities. 

Then  came  what  we  have  already  glanced  at  in  our 
catalogue  of  Western  influences  on  Syria,  the  impression 

^  For  the  Hauran  monuments,  see  p.   13 ;   for  Eusebius  and  other  his- 
torians, p.  15.  ^  See  ch.  xxviii. 


S)'?'ia's  Place  in  History  39 

made  by  the  Crusades.  Seen  across  the  shadow  of  their 
great' failure,  the  Crusades  shine  but  a  gleam  of  chivalry 
and  romance.  Only  when  you  visit  Syria  do  you  learn 
with  what  strenuous  faith,  with  what  an  infinite  purpose, 
those  ventures  of  a  mistaken  Christianity  were  waged. 
Syria  was   settled,  organised,  and   built  over 

The  Crusades. 

almost  as  lully  as  any  part  of  contemporary 
England.  The  reason  that  the  remains  of  Greek  civilisa- 
tion are  so  meagre  on  the  west  of  the  Jordan  is  the 
activity  of  the  Crusaders.  Large  cities  which  were  famous 
in  ancient  times,  like  Askalon  and  Caesarea,  bear  now  in 
their  ruins  few  but  Crusading  marks.  How  firmly  they 
were  built !  To-day  the  mortar  in  them  is  harder  than 
the  stone  it  binds.  But  it  is  not  by  these  coast  fortresses, 
nor  by  the  huge  castles  crowning  the  heights  far  inland, 
that  the  Crusades  impress  you,  so  much  as  by  the  ruins  of 
lonely  churches  and  cloisters,  which  are  scattered  all  over 
the  land,  far  from  the  coast  and  the  shelter  of  the  great 
Frankish  citadels.^  After  this  interval  of  Christian  rule 
comes  the  long  period  of  silence  and  crumbling,  and  then 
we  see  the  living  churches  of  to-day,  the  flourishing 
missions  and  schools  of  nearly  every  sect  in  Christendom, 
and  the  long  lines  of  pilgrims  coming  up  to  Jerusalem 
from  the  four  corners  of  the  world.^ 

^  For  authorities  on  the  Crusades,  see  pp.  17,  18. 

^  The  chief  native  churches  of  Syria  are  (i)  the  orthodox  Greek,  with  two 
patriarchates  in  Syria — Antioch  and  Jerusalem  ;  the  patriarchs  are  nominally 
subject  to  the  Patriarch  at  Constantinople,  and  to  the  Synod  there.  (2)  The 
Maronites  (from  John  Maro,  their  first  bishop)  were  originally  Monothelites, 
but  in  1 182,  as  a  result  of  dealings  with  Rome,  they  were  received  into  com- 
munion with  the  latter,  giving  up  their  Monothelite  doctrines,  but  retaining 
the  Syriac  language  for  the  mass,  and  the  marriage  of  their  priests.  They 
have  one  'Patriarch  of  Antioch  and  all  the  East,'  elected  by  bishops  and 
archbishops,  and  confirmed  by  the  Pope.  There  is  a  college  for  them,  con- 
ducted by  Jesuits,   near  the  Nahr  el  Kelb.     The  best  account  of  them  is 


40     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


In  all  this  the  Palestine  of  to-day  is  much  more  a 
museum  of  church  history  than  of  the  Bible — a  museum 
full  of  living  as  well  as  ancient  specimens  of  its  subject. 

The    present    state   of  Christianity   in    Syria    is   very 
interesting,  showing  almost  all  the  faults,  as  well  as  vir- 
tues, which  have  been  conspicuous  in  church 
in  Syria"'  ^   liistory  from  the  beginning.    Greeks  and  Latins 
^°'^^^'  are  waging  with  each  other  a  war  for  the  pos- 

session of  holy  places,  real  and  feigned.  They  have  dis- 
figured the  neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem,  and  threaten  to 
cover  the  most  of  the  land  with  rival  sanctuaries,  planted 
side  by  side  as  they  are  even  at  Gethsemane.^  Behind 
all  the  Churches  move,  as  of  old,  political  interests,  com- 

that  by  Mr.  Bliss  in  the  P.E.F.Q.  vols,  for  1892-3.  (3)  In  the  seven- 
teenth century  Roman  missions  succeeded  in  detaching  a  large  number  of  the 
Greek  Church,  allowing  the  mass  in  the  vernacular,  Arabic  or  Greek  com- 
munion in  both  kinds,  and  marriage  of  the  clergy  ;  but  insisting  on  recognition 
of  the  Pope,  adoption  of  the  Filioqiie,  and  observance  of  Latin  Easter.  These 
are  now  the  Melchites,  or  Greek  Catholics,  who  own  one  '  Patriarch  of 
Antioch,  Jerusalem,  and  Alexandria,'  elected  by  bishops,  confirmed  by  the 
Pope.     (4)  Fragments  of  the  old  Syriac  Church  still  exist  in  the  land. 

Protestant  missionaries  came  to  the  land  in  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
via  Cyprus,  where  their  earliest  tombstones  are.  The  American  Presbyterians 
have  worked  longest  and  most  powerfully — their  two  greatest  works  the 
College  and  its  Press  at  Beyrout,  and  their  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Arabic. 
The  Irish  Presbyterian  Church  labours  in  Damascus  and  round  about ;  Church 
of  Scotland  Missions  to  the  Jews  in  Beyrout ;  Free  Church  of  Scotland's 
Medical  Missions  at  Shweir  in  Lebanon,  at  Tiberias  and  Safed ;  Anglican 
Missions  all  over  Palestine,  with  bishop  in  Jerusalem ;  Jewish  Missionary 
Societies  of  Church  of  England  in  Jerusalem,  Damascus,  and  elsewhere ; 
Quaker  and  other  missions  here  and  there.  Independent  societies  are  also  at 
work,  schools  at  Nazareth,  Jaffa,  etc.,  and  especially  Edinburgh  Medical 
Mission  at  Damascus,  and  British  Syrian  Schools  organisation,  which  pretty 
well  covers  Lebanon.  East  of  Jordan  are  the  Church  Missionary's  church  and 
schools  at  Es-Salt  and  other  places,  and  an  independent  mission  at  Kerak. 

^  The  bitter  feeling  between  the  two  Churches  which  this  rival  building  of 
ecclesiastical  show-places  has  stirred  may  be  seen  in  the  title  of  a  paper  in 
the  Roman  Catholic  Das  Heilige  Land  for  1890,  pp.  137-148.  It  runs,  Die 
jungslen  Gewaltthaten  der  schistnatischen  G7-iechen  in  Jerusalem. 


Syria  s  Place  in  History  41 

plicating  and  further  debasing  the  quarrel.  The  native 
Christians,  partly  excusable  by  the  long  oppression  they 
have  suffered,  feel  that  they  hold  no  mission  to  Moham- 
medanism, and,  it  would  appear,  hardly  believe  that  a 
Mohammedan  can  be  converted.  The  Protestant  missions 
have  also,  in  present  political  conditions,  found  it  impos- 
sible to  influence  any  but  individual  Moslems ;  but  they 
have  introduced  the  Bible  in  the  vernacular,  and  this  has 
had  important  effects  on  the  native  Churches.  It  is  all 
very  well  to  say,  as  certain  have  said  in  the  recent  con- 
troversy within  the  Anglican  Church,  that  the  Western 
Churches  are  in  Palestine  for  other  purposes  than  building 
rival  conventicles  to  the  Eastern  ;  but  once  the  Bible  was 
introduced  in  the  vernacular,  and  studied  by  the  common 
people,  secession  was  morally  certain  from  the  native 
Churches,  and  for  this  the  Western  missionaries  were 
bound,  whether  willing  or  no,  to  provide  congregations 
and  pastors.  It  is  by  a  native  church  whose  mother  tongue 
is  Arabic  that  the  Moslems  will  be  reached,  though  we 
do  not  yet  see  whether  this  is  to  take  place  through 
the  older  bodies,  that  give  evidence  of  new  life,  or 
through  the  new  congregations  of  the  Western  missions. 
Meantime  two  things  are  coming  home  to  the  Moslem  : 
opportunities  of  education  of  a  very  high  kind  are  within 
reach  of  all  portions  of  the  population,  and  even  the 
Moslems  of  Damascus  are  waking  up  to  the  real  meaning 
of  Christianity,  through  that  side  of  her  which  represents 
perhaps  more  vividly  than  any  other,  the  Lord's  own  love 
and  power  to  men — medical  missions. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE    FORM    OF   THE    LAND    AND    ITS 
HISTORICAL   CONSEQUENCES 


48 


Fo7-  this  chapter  consult  Maps  /.,  //.,  ///. 


THE    FORM    OF   THE   LAND   AND    ITS 
HISTORICAL  CONSEQUENCES 

WE  have  seen  that  Syria's  closest  relations  are  with 
the  Arabian  peninsula,  of  which,  indeed,  it  forms 
the  north  end.  That  Syria  is  not  also  Arabian  in  char- 
acter— that  the  great  Arabian  Desert  does  not  sweep  on 
to  the  Mediterranean  except  at  the  extreme  south-east 
corner — is  due  not  only  to  the  neighbourhood  of  that  sea, 
but  much  more  to  the  peculiar  configuration  of  the  land 
itself.  The  Arabian  plateau  ceases  nearly  ninety  miles 
from  the  Mediterranean,  because  an  immense  triple  barrier 
is  formed  against  it.  Parallel  to  the  coast  of  the  Levant, 
and  all  the  way  from  Mount  Taurus  to  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Red  Sea,  there  run  two  great  mountain  ranges  with 
an  extraordinary  valley  between  them.  These  ranges  shut 
out  the  desert,  and  by  help  of  the  sea  charge  the  whole 
climate  with  moisture — providing  rains  and  Syria's  barrier 
mists,  innumerable  fountains  and  several  large  '°  '^^  desert 
rivers  and  lakes.  They  and  their  valley  and  their  coast- 
land  are  Syria ;  Arabia  is  all  to  the  east  of  them.  The 
Syrian  ranges  reach  their  summits  about  midway  in  the 
Alpine  heights  of  the  Lebanons.  The  Lebanons  are  the 
focus  of  Syria.  Besides  the  many  streams  which  spring 
full-born   from   their    roots,   and    lavish   water    on    their 


46      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

immediate  neighbourhood,  four  great  rivers  pass  from  the 
Lebanons  across  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  province. 
The  Orontes  flows  north,  and  waters  most  of  northern 
Syria,  creating  Antioch  ;  the  Abana,  or  Barada,  flows 
east,  and  reclaims  for  Syria  a  large  portion  of  what  would 
otherwise  be  desert,  creating  Damascus  ;  the  Litany  rushes 
west  in  a  bed  too  deep  and  narrow  for  any  work  save 
that  of  intersecting  the  land  ;  and  the  Jordan  flows 
south,  forming  three  lakes,  and  otherwise  intensifying  the 
■^ivision  between  the  two  ranges.  Of  these  rivers,  only 
the  Orontes  and  Litany  reach  the  open  sea  ;  the  Jordan 
comes  to  an  end  in  the  Dead  Sea,  and  the  Abana  dies  out 
in  combat  with  the  desert.  The  fate  of  the  latter  is  a 
signal  proof  of  how  desperately  Syria  has  been  rescued 
from  Arabia,  and  a  symbol  of  the  profound  influence 
which  the  surrounding,  invading  desert  has  had  upon  all 
her  culture  and  civilisation. 

The  part  of  Syria  with  which  we  have  to  do  is  all  to 
the  south  of  the  summits  of  the  Lebanons.  On  their 
A  triple  Western  slope  the  gorge  of  the  Litany  may  be 
barrier.  taken  as  the  most  natural  limit,  though  we 
shall  sometimes  pass  a  little  beyond  it.  On  the  eastern 
slope  we  shall  not  go  north  of  the  Abana  and  Damascus. 
We  have  first  to  survey  the  great  triple  barrier  against  the 
desert,  and  we  commence  with  its  most  distinctive  feature 
— the  valley  between  the  two  great  ranges. 

South  of  the  Lebanons,  this  valley,  with  the  young 
Jordan  in  its  embrace,  begins  to  sink  below  the  level  of 
the  sea.  At  the  Lake  of  Huleh  it  is  just  seven  feet  above 
I.  The  Jordan  ^^^^  level  J  at  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  ten  miles 
valley.  farther  south,  it  is  680  feet  below,  and  so  for 

sixty-five  miles  more  it  continues  to  descend,  till  at  the 


The  Fori7t  of  the  Land  47 

Dead  Sea  it  is  1290  feet  below.  From  here  it  rapidly 
rises  to  a  height  of  nearly  300  feet  above  the  sea,  and 
thence  slowly  sinks  again  to  the  Gulf  of  Akabah,  which 
forms  its  southern  continuation.  For  this  unique  and 
continuous  trench  from  the  Lebanons  to  the  Red  Sea 
there  is  no  single  designation.  By  using  two  of  its  names 
which  overlap  each  other,  we  may  call  it  the  Jordan- 
'Arabah  Valley.  From  the  Lake  of  Galilee  to  the  south 
of  the  Dead  Sea  it  is  called  by  the  Arabs  the  Ghor,  or 
Depression.^ 

On  either  side  of  this  run  the  two  great  Syrian  ranges. 
Fundamentally  of  the  same  formation,  they  are  very  diffe- 
rent in  disposition.  The  western  is  a  long,  deep  2.  The  west- 
wall  of  limestone,  extending  all  the  way  from  ^^  '-'^"se. 
Lebanon  in  the  north  to  a  line  of  cliffs  opposite  the 
Gulf  and  Canal  of  Suez — the  southern  edge  of  the  Great 
Desert  of  the  Wandering.  In  Lebanon  this  limestone  is 
disposed  mainly  in  lofty  ranges  running  north  and  south  ; 
in  Upper  Galilee  it  descends  to  a  plateau  walled  by 
hills  ;  in  Lower  Galilee  it  is  a  series  of  still  less  elevated 
ranges,  running  east  and  west.  Then  it  sinks  to  the  plain 
of  Esdraelon,  with  signs  of  having  once  bridged  this 
level  by  a  series  of  low  ridges.^  South  of  Esdraelon  it 
rises  again,  and  sends  forth  a  branch  in  Carmel  to  the 
sea,  but  the  main  range  continues  parallel  to  the  Jordan 
Valley.  Scattering  at  first  through  Samaria  into  separate 
groups,  it  consolidates  towards  Bethel  upon  the  narrow 
table-land  of  Judaea,  with  an  average  height  of  2400  feet, 
continues  so  to  the  south  of  Hebron,  where  by  broken  and 
sloping  strata  it  lets  itself  down,  widening  the  while,  on 
to  the  plateau  of  the  Desert  of  the  Wandering.     This 

^  See  more  fully  ch.  xxii.  *  At  Shekh  Abrek  and  Lejjun. 


48      TJie  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Western  Range  we  shall  call  the  Central  Range,  for  it, 
and  not  the  Jordan  Valley,  is  historically  the  centre  of 
the  land.  The  watershed  lies,  not  down  the  middle  of 
the  range,  but  nearer  the  east.  The  western  flank  is  long 
and  gentle,  falling  on  to  a  maritime  plain  of  very  varying 
breadth,  a  few  hundred  feet  above  the  sea  ;  but  the  eastern 
is  short  and  precipitous,  dragged  down,  as  it  were,  by  the 
fissure  of  the  Jordan  Valley  to  far  below  the  sea-level. 
The  effect  of  this  appears  in  the  sections  given  on  the 
large  map  accompanying  this  volume. 

Down  the  eastern  side  of  the  Jordan  Valley  the  range 
is  even  more  continuous  than  that  down  the  west.     Sink- 

The  east-  ^"S  swiftly  from  Mount  Hermon  to  2000  feet 
em  range.  above  the  sea,  it  preserves  that  average  level 
southward  across  the  plateau  of  Hauran  to  the  great 
cleft  of  the  river  Yarmuk  ;  is  still  high,  but  more  broken 
by  cross  valleys  through  Gilead  ;  and  forms  again  an 
almost  level  table-land  over  Moab.  Down  the  west 
of  Hauran,  on  the  margin  of  the  Jordan  Valley,  the 
average  level  is  raised  by  a  number  of  extinct  volcanoes, 
which  have  their  counterparts  also  to  the  south  and  east 
of  Damascus,  and  these  have  covered  the  limestone  of 
the  range  with  a  deep  volcanic  deposit  as  far  as  the 
Yarmuk.  South  of  the  eastern  line  of  volcanoes  runs 
the  Jebel  Hauran,  or  Druze  Mountain,  as  it  is  called 
from  its  latest  colonists,  and  forms  the  boundary  in  that 
direction — the  eastern  boundary  of  Syria.  Farther  south 
the  range  has  no  such  definite  limit,  but  rolls  off  imper- 
ceptibly into  the  high  Arabian  Desert.  Here  we  may 
take  for  a  border  the  great  Hajj  Road,  past  the  Upper 
Zerka  to  Ma'en. 

We  see,  then,  that  Palestine  is  disposed,  between  the 


The  For7)i  of  I  he  Land  49 

Sea  and  the  Desert,  in  a  series  of  four  parallel  lines  or 
bands  running  north  and  south  :  ^ — 

The  The  The  The 

Sea.  Maritime        Central  Jordan  Eastern       Desert. 

Plain.  Range.  Valley.  Range. 

Now,  were  there  no  modifications  of  these  four  long 

bands  between  the  Sea  and  the  Desert,  the  geography  of 

Palestine  would  indeed  be  simple,  and  in  con- 
Modifications 
sequence  the  history  of  Palestine  very  different   of  the  four 

zones 

from  what  has  actually  been.  But  the  Central 
Range  undergoes  three  modifications  which  considerably 
complicate  the  geography,  and  have  had  as  powerful  an 
influence  on  the  history  as  the  four  long  lines  themselves. 
In  the  first  place,  the  Central  Range  is  broken  in  two,  as 
we  have  seen,  by  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon,  which 

T»/r--  Esdraelon. 

unites  the  Jordan   Valley  with  the  Maritime 
Plain.     Again,  from  Judsea  the  Central  Range  does  not 
fall  immediately  on  the  Maritime  Plain,  as  it  does  farther 
north  from  Samaria.     Another  smaller,  more  open  range 
comes    between — the    hills    of    the    so-called   -Yhe 
Shephelah.     These  are   believed    to   be  of  a    ^hepheiah. 
different  kind  of  limestone  from  that  of  the  Central  Range, 
and  they  are  certainly  separated  from  Judaea  by  a  well- 
defined  series  of  valleys  along  their  whole  extent.^     They 
do  not  continue  opposite  Samaria,  for  there  the  Central 
Range  itself  descends  on  the  plain,  but,  as  we  shall  see, 
they  have  a  certain  counterpart  in  the  soft,  low  hills  which 
separate  the  Central  Range  from  Carmel.    And 

The  Ne*^eb. 

thirdly,  south  of  Judasa  the    Central    Rang6  " 

droops  and  spreads  upon  a  region  quite  distinct  in  char- 
acter  from  the  tableland  to   the  north  of  Hebron — the 

^  This  is  the  division  adopted  by  Robinson  in  his  F/iys.  Geog.,  p.  17,  and 
by  Henderson,  Palestine,  pp.  15-21.  "^  See  p.  205. 

D 


50     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Negeb,  or  Sputh  Country  as  it  is  translated  in  our  English 
version.  As^-all  6f  these  three  regions — Esdraelon,  the 
Shephelah  and  the  Negeb — have  also  proved  their  distinct- 
ness from  the  Central  Range,  as  from  the  Maritime  Plain, 
by  their  greatly  differing  histories,  we  add  them  to  our 
catalogud  of  the  ruling  features  of  the  land,  which  we  now 
reckon  ad  seven.     From  the  West  these  lie  as  follows  : — 

1.  The  Maritime  Plain. 

2.  The  Low  Hills  or  Shephelah. 

3.  The  Central  Range — cut  in  two  by 

4.  Esdraelon,  and  running  out  into 

5.  The  Negeb. 

6.  The  Jordan  Valley. 

7.  The  Eastern  Range. 

In  addition  there  are  the  Lebanons  and  Carmel.  For 
some  reasons  the  Lebanons  ought  to  be  at  the  head  of  the 
The  Lebanons  ^bove  Hst,  bccause  the  four  long  strips  flow 
and  Carmel.  ffom  and  are  dominated  by  them.  But  the 
Lebanons  are  too  separate,  and  stand  by  themselves. 
Carmel,  on  the  other  hand,  is  not  separate  enough.  Geo- 
graphically a  branch  of  the  Central  Range,  though  cut  off 
from  it  by  a  district  of  lower  and  softer  hills  like  the 
Shephelah,  Carmel  has  never  had  a  history  of  its  own,  but 
its  history  has  been  merged  either  in  that  of  the  coast  or 
in  that  of  Samaria.^  Carmel,  however,  was  always  held 
distinct  in  the  imagination  of  Hebrew  writers,  as,  with  its 
bold  forward  leap  to  the  sea,  it  could  not  but  be  ;  nor 
will  any  one,  who  desires  to  form  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
country,  leave  this  imposing  headland  out  of  his  vision. 

The  whole  land  may  then  be  represented  as  on  the 
opposite  page. 

^  See  ch.  xx. 


PHYSICAL    SKETCH    MAP 


Sonbolai&rM:.  irflnif 


52      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

In  the  summary  descriptions  of  the  Promised  Land 
in  the  Old  Testament  we  find  all  these  features  men- 
tioned,— with  the  exception  of  Esdraelon,  which  falls 
under  the  general  designation  of  valley-land,  and  with 
the  addition  sometimes  of  the  slopes  or  flanks  ^  of  both 
ranges,  which  are  distinct  in  character,  and  often  in  popu- 
lation, from  the  broad  plateaus  above  them.  An  account 
of  these  passages,  and  of  all  the  general  geographical 
terms  of  the  Bible,  will  be  found  in  an  appendix.  Here 
it  is  enough  to  give  a  few  of  the  proper  names.  We 
have  mentioned  that  for  the  Jordan  Valley,  the  'Arabah  ; 
that  for  the  Low  Hills,  the  Shephelah  ;  and  that  for  the 
South,  the  Negeb.  The  Maritime  Plain  between  Carmel 
and  Joppa  was  called  in  Hebrew  Sharon,  probably  mean- 
ing the  Level,  but  in  Greek  the  Forest,  from  a  great  oak 
forest  which  once  covered  it.^  To  the  south  the  name  for  it 
was  Pelesheth,  Philistia,  or,  poetically,  the  Shoulder  of  the 
Philistines,  from  its  shape  as  it  rises  from  the  sea.^  The 
Hebrew  word  darom  or  daroma^  meaning  south,  was 
applied  by  the  Jews  shortly  before  our  era  to  the  whole 
of  the  Maritime  Plain  southwards  from  Lydda  :  ^  in  Chris- 
tian times  Daroma  extended  inland  to  the  Dead  Sea,  and 
absorbed  both  the  Shephelah  and  Negeb.^  The  Arabs 
confined  the  name  to  a  fortress  south  of  Gaza — the  Darom 
of  the  Crusaders.''   What  we  know  as  Esdraelon  was,  in  its 

1  Ashdoth  =  n'nti'X-  "  See  pp.  147,  148.  »  Isa.  xi.  14. 

*  DIIT,  or  with  the  Aramaic  definite  article  XDm. 

5  Neubauer,  Geog.  du  Talmud,  p.  62. 

8  In  the  Onomasticon,  not  only  is  Eshtemoa  in  Dan  said  to  be  in  the 
Daroma,  and  Ziklag  and  other  towns  of  Simeon,  far  south  of  Beit-Jibrin  ; 
but  Maon  and  Carmel  on  the  Judcean  table-land,  and  Gadda  immincjis  mari 
mortiio.     There  was  a  Daroma  Interior  (see  Art.  '  Jether'). 

■^  Now  Deir  el  Belah.  Will.  Tyre,  xx.  19,  derives  Darom  from  Deir-Rum, 
Convent  of  the  Greeks,  but  the  other  is  the  probable  derivation. 


The  Form  of  tJie  Land 


western  part,  the  Open  Plain  of  Megiddo,  but,  on  its  eastern 
slope  to  the  Jordan,  the  Vale  of  Jezreel.^  Neither  of 
the  two  great  ranges  was  covered  in  its  whole  extent  by 
one  proper  name.  The  Central  was  divided,  according 
to  the  tribes  upon  it,  into  Mount  Judah,  Mount  Ephraim 
or  Israel,"  and  Mount  Naphtali.  In  the  English  version 
mount  is  often  rendered  by  hill-cowitry^  but  this  is  mis- 
leading. With  their  usual  exactness,  the  Hebrews  saw 
that  these  regions  formed  part  of  one  range,  the  whole  of 
which  they  called  not  by  a  collective  name,  but  singularly 
— The  Mountain — ^just  as  to-day  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Lebanons  speak  of  their  double  and  broken  range  also  in 
the  singular,  as  El-Jebel.  Before  the  Israelites  came  into 
the  land  they  knew  the  Central  Range  as  the  Mount  of 
the  Amorite.*  The  Eastern  Range  was  known  under 
the  three  great  divisions  of  Bashan  to  the  north  of  the 
Yarmuk;  Mount  Gilead  to  the  south  of  that;^  and  to  the 
south  of  that  across  Moab,  Ha-Mishor,  The  Level,  or 
The  Plateau  par  excellence.  Another  name  applied  to  the 
northern  end  of  the  Moab  mountain-wall,  as  seen  from  the 
west,  the  Mount  or  Mountains  of  the  'Abarim  ^ — that  is, 
Those-on-the-Other-Side — was  applicable,  as  indeed  it  was 
probably  applied,  to  the  Eastern  Range  in  its  entire  extent  J 
Viewing,  then,  all  these  modifications  of  the  great 
parallel  lines  of  the  land,  we  see  that  this  fourfold  division, 
fundamental  as  it  is,  is  crossed,  and  to  some  Mountain 
extent  superseded,  by  a  simpler  distinction  ^"'^  ^^^'"' 
between  mountain  and  plain,  or,  to  speak  more  exactly, 

^  See  ch.  xix.  "  See  pp.  325,  338. 

2  Hill-country  of  Judaea,  Luke  i.  39,  65 ;  Josh.  xxi.  1 1 ;  but  always  Mount 
Ephraim.  ■*  Deut.  i.  7. 

^  But  see  ch.  xxv,  "  Numb,  xxvii.  12. 

'  Traces  of  this  in  Ezek.  xxxix.  11,  where  read  D^I^V. 


54     ^'^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

between  hilly  country  and  level  country.  This  is  obvious 
geographically :  it  has  been  of  the  utmost  importance 
historically,  for  the  mountain  was  fit  for  infantry  warfare 
only,  but  the  plain  was  feasible  for  cavalry  and  chariots  ; 
and,  as  Palestine  from  her  position  was  bound  to  be  crossed 
by  the  commerce  and  the  war  of  the  two  great  continents 
on  either  side  of  her,  her  plains  would  bear  the  brunt  of 
these,  while  her  mountains  would  be  comparatively  remote 
from  them.  All  the  Central  Range,  and  the  centre  of  the 
Eastern  Range,  was  mountain,  fit  for  infantry  only.  The 
Maritime  Plain,  Esdraelon,  and  the  Jordan  Valley,  along 
with  the  great  plateaus  of  the  Eastern  Range,  Hauran 
and  Moab,  were  plains,  bearing  the  great  trunk  roads, 
and  feasible  for  cavalry  and  chariots.  Now,  it  is  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  observe  that  all  the  mountain-land, 
viz.,  the  Central  Range  and  Gilead,  represents  Israel's 
proper  and  longest  possessions,  first  won  and  last  lost 
— while  all  the  valley-land  and  table-land  was,  for  the 
most  part,  hardly  won  and  scarcely  kept  by  Israel ;  but  at 
first  remained  for  long  in  Canaanite  keeping,  and  towards 
the  end  was  the  earliest  to  come  under  the  great  invading 
empires.  Not  only  the  course  of  Assyrian  and  Egyptian 
war  but  the  advance  of  Greek  culture  and  of  Roman 
conquest  is  explained  (as  we  shall  see  in  detail)  by  this 
general  distinction  between  hilly  and  level  land,  which, 
especially  on  the  east  of  Jordan,  does  not  correspond  to 
the  distinction  of  mountain  range  from  Jordan  Valley  and 
Maritime  Plain.  Enisled  by  that  circuit  of  lowland — the 
Gh6r,  Esdraelon,  and  the  Maritime  Plain — the  Central 
Range  in  Judah  and  Ephraim  formed  Israel's  most  con- 
stant sanctuary,  and  Gilead  was  generally  attached  to  it. 
But,  from   the  table-land   of  Hauran,  Israel   were  driven 


The  Porm  of  the  Land  55 

by  the  chariots  of  Syria  ;  they  held  Moab  only  at  inter- 
vals ;  the  Canaanites  kept  them  for  long  and  repeated 
periods  out  of  the  Upper  Jordan  Valley  and  Esdraelon  ; 
and,  except  for  two  brief  triumphs  in  the  morning  and  in 
the  evening  of  their  history,  the  Philistines  kept  them  out 
of  the  Maritime  Plain.  So,  when  the  Greeks  came,  the 
regions  they  covered  were  the  coast,  the  Jordan  Valley, 
the  Hauran,  the  eastern  levels  of  Gilead,  and  Moab  ;  but 
it  is  noticeable  that  in  Gilead  itself  the  Greek  cities  were 
few  and  late,  and  in  the  Central  Range  not  at  all.  And 
so,  when  the  Romans  came,  the  tactics  of  their  great 
generals,  as  may  be  most  clearly  illustrated  from  Ves- 
pasian's campaign,  were  to  secure  all  the  plains,  then 
Samaria,  and,  last  of  all,  the  high,  close  Judaea. 

But  this  distinction  between  mountain  and  plain,  which 
accounts  for  so  much  of  the  history  of  the  land,  does  not 
exhaust  its  extraordinary  variety.  Palestine  is  almost  as 
much  divided  into  petty  provinces  as  Greece,  and  far 
more  than  those  of  Greece  are  her  divisions  intensified  by 
differences  of  soil  and  climate.  The  two  ends  of  the 
Jordan  are  not  thirty  miles  away  from  those  Brokenness  of 
parts  of  the  Maritime  Plain  which  are  respec-  *^^  '^"'^• 
tively  opposite  them,  yet  they  are  more  separate  from 
these  than,  in  Switzerland,  Canton  Bern  is  from  Canton 
Valais.  The  slopes  of  Lebanon  are  absolutely  dis- 
tinct from  Galilee ;  Galilee  is  cut  off  from  Hauran,  and 
almost  equally  so  from  Samaria.  From  Hauran  the 
Jebel  Druz  stands  off  by  itself,  and  Gilead  holds  aloof  to 
the  south,  and  again  Moab  is  distinct  from  Gilead.  On 
each  of  the  four  lines,  too,  desert  marches  with  fertile 
soil,  implying  the  neighbourhood  of  very  different  races 
and   systems   of  civilisation.     Upon   the   Central    Range 


56      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

itself  Judah  is  bare,  austere,  secluded — a  land  of  shepherds 
and  unchanging  life :  Samaria  is  fertile  and  open — a  land 
of  husbandmen,  as  much  in  love  with,  as  they  were  liable 
to,  foreign  influences.  These  differences  of  soil  are  in- 
tensified by  differences  of  climate.  In  Palestine  tnere  is 
every  climate  between  the  sub-tropical  of  one  end  of  the 
Jordan  Valley  and  the  sub-Alpine  above  the  other  end. 
There  are  palms  in  Jericho  and  pine  forests  in  Lebanon. 
In  the  Ghor,  in  summer,  you  are  under  a  temperature  of 
more  than  100°  Fahrenheit,  and  yet  you  see  glistening  the 
snow-fields  of  Hermon.  All  the  intermediate  steps  between 
these  extremes  the  eye  can  see  at  one  sweep  from  Carmel 
— the  sands  and  palms  of  the  coast ;  the  wheat-fields  of 
Esdraelon  ;  the  oaks  and  sycamores  of  Galilee  ;  the  pines, 
the  peaks,  the  snows  of  Anti-Lebanon.  How  closely  these 
differences  lie  to  each  other !  Take  a  section  of  the 
country  across  Judaea.  With  its  palms  and  shadoofs  the 
Philistine  Plain  might  be  a  part  of  the  Egyptian  Delta ; 
but  on  the  hills  of  the  Shephelah  which  overlook  it,  you 
are  in  the  scenery  of  Southern  Europe ;  the  Judaean 
moors  which  overlook  them  are  like  the  barer  uplands  of 
Central  Germany,  the  shepherds  wear  sheepskin  cloaks 
and  live  under  stone  roofs — sometimes  the  snow  lies  deep  ; 
a  few  miles  farther  east  and  you  are  down  on  the  desert 
among  the  Bedouin,  with  their  tents  of  hair  and  their  cotton 
clothing ;  a  few  miles  farther  still,  and  you  drop  to  torrid 
heat  in  the  Jiordan  Valley ;  a  few  miles  beyond  that  and 
you  rise  to  the  plateau  of  the  Belka,  where  the  Arabs  say 
'  the  cold  is  always  at  home.'  Yet  from  Philistia  to  the 
Belka  is  scarcely  seventy  miles. 

All  this   means  separate  room   and  station   for  a  far 
greater    variety    of    race    and    government    than    could 


The  Fortn  of  the  Land  57 

have  been  effected  in  so  small  a  land  by  the  simple 
distinction  of  Mountain  and  Plain.  What  is  said  of  the 
people  of  Laish,  in  the  north  nook  of  the  Jordan  Valley,  is 
very  characteristic  of  the  country.  And  the  five  men  of 
Dan  caine  to  Laish,  and  saw  the  people  who  were  in  its 
midst,  peaceful  and  careless,  possessing  riches,  and  far 
from  the  Phcenicia?is,  and  without  any  relation  with  the 
Arameans}      Laish  is  only  twenty-five  miles 

Its  con- 

from  the  Sidonian  coast,  and  about  forty  from     sequences 

.         .  in  history. 

Damascus,  but  great  mountams  mtervene  on 
either  side.  Her  unprovoked  conquest  by  the  Danites 
happened  without  the  interference  of  either  of  those 
powerful  states.  From  this  single  case  we  may  under- 
stand how  often  a  revolution,  or  the  invasion  or  devasta- 
tion of  a  locality,  might  take  place  without  affecting  other 
counties  of  this  province — if  one  may  so  call  them,  which 
were  but  counties  in  size  though  kingdoms  in  difference 
of  race  and  government. 

The  frequent  differences  of  race  in  the  Palestine  of 
to-day  must  strike  the  most  careless  traveller.  The  Chris- 
tian peoples,  more  than  half  Greek  and  partly  Frank,  who 
were  driven  into  the  Lebanon  at  various  times  by  the 
Arab  and  Turk,  still  preserve  on  their  high  sanctuary 
their  racial  distinctions.  How  much  taller  and  whiter 
and  nobler  are  the  Druses  of  Carmel  than  the  fellahin  of 
the  plain  at  their  feet !  ^  How  distinct  the  Druses  of 
Jebel  Hauran  are  from  the  Bedouin  around  them !    The 

^  Judges  xviii.  7  :  according  to  Budde's  separation  of  the  two  narratives 
intertwined  in  this  chapter  {Biicker  Richter  etc.,  p.  140). 

-  To  a  less  extent  the  same  contrast  prevails  between  the  peasants  of  the 
Ghuta  round  Damascus  and  the  finer  peasants  of  Hauran,  but  the  population 
of  Hauran  is,  in  many  cases,  so  very  recent  an  immigration  (see  ch.  xxiv.), 
that  it  is  difficult  to  appreciate  the  causes  of  this  difference. 


58     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Greeks  of  Beyrout  are  half  the  world  away  from  the 
Arabs  of  Damascus.  On  the  Central  Range,  within  Judaea 
itself,  the  desert  has  preserved  the  Bedouin  unchanged, 
within  a  few  miles  of  that  medley  of  nations,  Jerusalem. 
And,  finally,  within  the  Arab  family  there  are  differences 
that  approach  racial  degree.  The  tropical  Ghor  has 
engendered  a  variety  of  Arab,  the  Ghawarineh,  whose 
frizzled  hair  and  blackened  skin  contrast  vividly  with  the 
pure  Semitic  features  of  the  Bedouin  of  the  plateaus 
above  him — the  'Adwan  or  the  Beni  Sakhr. 

Therefore,  while  the  simple  distinction  between  mountain 
and  plain  enabled  us  to  understand  the  course  of  the  in- 
vasions of  the  great  empires  which  burst  on  Syria,  these 
Palestine  a  more  intricate  distinctions  of  soil,  altitude,  and 
Land  of  Tubes,  climate  explain  how  it  was  that  the  minor 
races  which  poured  into  Palestine  from  parts  of  the  world 
so  different  as  Asia  Minor,  Mesopotamia,  Arabia,  Egypt, 
and  the  Greek  islands,  sustained  their  own  characters  in 
this  little  crowded  province  through  so  many  centuries. 
Palestine  has  never  belonged  to  one  nation,  and  probably 
never  will.  Just  as  her  fauna  and  flora  represent  many 
geological  ages,  and  are  related  to  the  plants  and  animals  of 
many  other  lands,^  so  varieties  of  the  human  race,  culture 
and  religion,  the  most  extreme,  preserve  themselves  side 
by  side  on  those  different  shelves  and  coigns  of  her  surface, 
in  those  different  conditions  of  her  climate.  Thus  when 
history  first  lights  up  within  Palestine,  what  we  see  is  a  con- 
fused medley  of  clans — all  that  crowd  of  Canaanites,  Amo- 
rites,  Perizzites,  Kenizzites,  Hivites,  Girgashites,  Hittites 
sons  of  Anak  and  Zamzummim — which  is  so  perplexing 

'  For  the  extreme  diversity,  see  Tristram's  various  works  :  Merril's  East  of 
the  fordmi ;  and  the  summary  in  Henderson's  Palestine. 


The  Form  of  the  La7id  59 

to  the  student,  but  yet  in  such  thorough  harmony  with  the 
natural  conditions  of  the  country  and  with  the  rest  of  the 
history.^  Again,  if  we  remember  the  fitful  nature  of  all 
Semitic  warfare — the  great  rush,  and  if  that  be  not  wholly 
successful  at  first,  the  resting  content  with  what  has  been 
gained — then  we  can  appreciate  why,  in  so  broken  a  land, 
the  invasion  of  the  Hebrew  nomads  was  so  partial,  and 
left,  even  in  those  parts  it  covered,  so  many  Canaanite 
enclaves.  And  within  Israel  herself,  we  understand  why 
her  tribes  remained  so  distinct,  why  she  so  easily  split  into 
two  kingdoms  on  the  same  narrow  Highlands,  and  why 
even  in  Judah,  there  were  clans  like  the  Rechabites  who 
preserved  their  life  in  tents  and  their  austere  desert 
habits,  side  by  side  with  the  Jewish  vineyards  and  the 
Jewish  cities. 

Palestine,  formed  as  it  is,  and  surrounded  as  it  is,  is 
emphatically  a  land  of  tribes.  The  idea  that  it  can  ever 
belong  to  one  nation,  even  though  this  were  the  Jews,  is 
contrary  both  to  Nature  and  to  Scripture. 

^  Some  of  these  undoubtedly  rej^resent  various  races  like  Amorites,  Hittites, 
and  probably  Zamzummim.  Others  get  their  name  from  their  localities  or  the 
kind  of  life  they  lead. 


CHAPTER     III 

THE    CLIMATE    AND    FERTILITY    OF   THE 

LAND,   WITH    THEIR   EFFECTS    ON 

ITS    RELIGION 


For  this  chapte/-  consiili  Map  I. 


THE     CLIMATE     AND     FERTILITY    OF     THE 

LAND,    WITH     THEIR    EFFECTS    ON 

ITS    RELIGION 

WE  have  already  seen  some  of  the  peculiarities  of 
the  climate  and  soil  of  Palestine.  We  are  able  to 
appreciate  in  some  degree  the  immense  differences  both  of 
temperature  and  fertility,  which  are  (hxQ,  first,  to  the  unusual 
range  of  level — from  1300  feet  below  the  sea  with  a  tropical 
atmosphere  to  9000  feet  above  it  with  an  Alpine,  and, 
second,  to  the  double  exposure  of  the  land — seawards,  so 
that  the  bulk  of  it  is  subject  to  the  ordinary  influences 
of  the  Mediterranean  basin,  and  desert-wards,  so  that  part 
of  it  exhibits  most  of  the  characteristics  of  desert  life. 
Within  these  ruling  conditions  we  have  now  to  look  more 
closely  at  the  details  of  the  climate  and  fertility,  and  then 
to  estimate  their  social  and  religious  influence. 

I.  Climate. 

The  ruling  feature  of  the  climate  of  Syria  is  the  division 
of  the  year  into  a  rainy  and  a  dry  season.^     Towards  the 

^  On  the  climate  of  Palestine,  besides  works  of  travel  or  residence  which 
furnish  meteorological  statistics,  see  Lynch's  Narrative  and  Official  Reports, 
and  Barclay's  City  of  the  Great  King ;  consult  especially  Robinson,  jP/iys. 
Geog.  of  the  Holy  Land,  ch.  iii.  ;  F.E.F.Q.,  especially  for  1872;  1883, 
Chaplin,  Obs.  on  Climate  of  Jertis.  ;  188S-1893,  Glaisher  on  Meteoro.  Obs. 
at  Sarona;  1893-4,  lb.  at  Jertis.  ;  Anderlind,  Z.D.P.V.,  viii.  loi  ff.  :  Der 
Einfluss  der  Gebirgswaldungen  in  Nordl.  Palastina  auf  die  Vermehrung  der 
wiisserigen  Niederschlage  daselbst  ;  /(/.  xiv.  ;  Ankel,  Grtindzuge  der  Landes- 
natitr  des  Westjordanlandes,  iv,  Das  Klima  ;  Wittmann,  Travels,  561-570. 

03 


6 4     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

end  of  October  ^  heavy  rains  begin  to  fall,  at  intervals,  for 

a  day  or  several  days  at  a  time.      These  are  what   the 

;  English  Bible  calls  the  early  or  former  rain, 

■^        The  rains.  hit-. 

Viterally  the  Pozirer.^  It  opens  the  agricultural 
year  ;  the  soil  hardened  and  cracked  by  the  long  summer 
is  loosened,  and  the  farmer  begins  ploughing.^  Till  the 
end  of  November  the  average  rainfall  is  not  large,  but 
it  increases  through  December,  January,  and  February, 
begins  to  abate  in  March,  and  is  practically  over  by  the 
middle  of  April.  The  latter  rains  of  Scripture  are  the 
heavy  showers  of  March  and  April.*  Coming  as  they  do 
before  the  harvest  and  the  long  summer  drought,  they  are 
of  far  more  importance  to  the  country  than  all  the  rains  of 
the  winter  months,  and  that  is  why  these  are  passed  over 
in  Scripture,  and  emphasis  is  laid  alone  on  the  early  and 
the  latter  rains.  This  has  given  most  people  the  idea  that 
there  are  only  two  intervals  of  rain  in  the  Syrian  year,  at 
the  vernal  and  the  autumnal  equinox  ;  but  the  whole  of 
the  winter  is  the  rainy  season,  as  indeed  we  are  told  in  the 
well-known  lines  of  the  Song  of  Songs  : 

Lo,  the  winter  is  past, 
The  rain  is  over  and  gone. 

During  most  winters  both  hail  and  snow  fall  on  the  hills. 
Hail  is  common,  and  is  often  mingled  with 
rain  and  with  thunderstorms,  which  happen  at 

intervals  through  the  winter,  and  are  frequent  in  spring. 

■^  In  Lebanon  often  a  month  earlier. 

^  mV,  Deut.  xi.  14,  Jer.  v.  24,  Hos.  vi.  3.  ITTlD,  Joel  ii.  23,  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  7 
{E.  V.  6).    Cf.  James  v.  7.   On  rains  and  seasons  generally  see  Book  of  Enoch. 

2  The  ecclesiastical  year  of  the  later  Jews  began  in  spring  with  the  month 
Nisan. 

■*  tJ'Ip/JO.  Besides  the  references  in  the  last  note  but  one,  cf.  Prov.  xvi.  15, 
Jer.  iii.  3,  Zech.  x.  i.     Rain  genericany  =  "lt3D.     A  burst  of  rain^DtJ'J. 


The  Climate  and  Fertility  of  the  Land       65 

The  Old  Testament  mentions  hail  and  thunder  together.^ 
On  the  Central  Range  snow  has  been  known  to  reach  a 
depth  of  nearly  two  feet,  and  to  lie  for  five  days  or  even 
more,  and  the  pools  at  Jerusalem  have  sometimes  been 
covered  with  ice.  But  this  is  rare  :  on  the  Central  Range 
the  ground  seldom  freezes,  and  the  snow  usually  disappears 
in  a  day.-  On  the  plateaus  east  of  Jordan  snow  lies  regu- 
larly for  some  days  every  winter,  and  on  the  top  of  Hermon 
there  are  fields  of  it  through  the  summer.  None  has  ever 
been  seen  to  fall  in  the  tropical  Ghor.  This  explains  the 
feat  of  Benaiah,  who  luent  doivn  mid  slezu  a  lion  iti  the 
midst  of  a  cistern  in  the  day  of  the  snow?  The  beast  had 
strayed  up  the  Judaean  hills  from  Jordan,  and  had  been 
caught  in  a  sudden  snowstorm.  Where  else  than  in  Pales- 
tine could  lions  and  snow  thus  come  together  ? 

In  May  showers  are  very  rare,  and  from  then  till 
October,  not  only  is  there  no  rain,  but  a  cloud  seldom 
passes  over  the  sky,  and  a  thunderstorm  is  a  miracle.* 
Morning  mists,  however,  are  not  uncommon — in  mid- 
summer, 1 89 1,  we  twice  woke  into  one  as  chill  and  dense 
as  a  Scotch  '  haar '  ^ — but  they  are  soon  dispersed.  In 
Bible  lands  vapour  is  a  true  symbol  of  what  is  frail  and 
fleeting — as  it  cannot  be  to  us  northerners,  to  whose  coasts 
the  mists  cling  with  a  pertinacity  suggestive  of  very  oppo- 
site ideas.  On  the  other  hand,  the  dews  of  Syrian  nights 
are  excessive  ;  on  many  mornings  it  looks  as  if  there  had 
been  heavy  rain,  and  this  is  the  sole  slackening  of  the 
drought   which   the    land    feels    from  May   till    October. 

^  Ps.  xviii.  etc. 

*  On  snow  in  Jerusalem,  P.E.F.Q.,  1S83,  10  f.  Robinson,  Phys.  Geog;., 
p.  265.  ^  2  Sam.  xxiii.  20.  *  i  Sam.  xii.  17,  18. 

^•'  At  Ghabaghib  in  Hauran  on  19th,  and  Irbid  in  Gilead  on  25th,  June, 
temp.  48°.     On  mists  and  dews,  cf.  Book  of  Enoch  Ix. 

E 


66     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Throughout  the  summer  prairie  and  forest  fires  are  not 
uncommon.  The  grass  and  thistle  of  the  desert  will  blaze 
for  miles,  driving  the  scorpions  and  vipers  from  their  holes 
as  John  the  Baptist  describes  in  one  of  his  vivid  figures  ;  ^ 
and  sometimes,  as  the  prophets  tell  us,  the  air  is  filled  with 
the  smoke  of  a  whole  wood.^ 

The  winds  of  Syria  are  very  regular,  and  their  place 

obvious  in  the   economy   of  her   life.      He   maketh   His 

ministers  of  winds?      They  prevail  from  the 

The  Winds.  "^  ^     ^ 

west,  and,  with  the  help  of  the  sea,  they  fulfil 
two  great  functions  throughout  the  year.  In  the  winter 
the  west  and  south-west  winds,  damp  from  the  sea,  as  they 
touch  the  cold  mountains,  drop  their  moisture  and  cause 
the  winter  rains.  So  our  Lord  said  :  When  ye  see  a  cloud 
rise  out  of  the  west,  straightway  ye  say,  Tliere  cometh  a 
shozver,  and  so  it  is.^  In  summer  the  winds  blow  chiefly 
out  of  the  drier  north-west,  and  meeting  only  warmth  do 
not  cause  showers,  but  greatly  mitigate  the  daily  heat.^ 
This  latter  function  is  even  more  regular  than  the  former, 
for  it  is  fulfilled  morning  by  morning  with  almost  perfect 
punctuality.  Those  who  have  not  travelled  through  a 
Syrian  summer  can  scarcely  realise  how  welcome,  how 
The  Summer  Unfailing,  a  friend  is  the  forenoon  wind  from 
west  wmd.        ^j.^^  g^^^  j^^^  ^iq  is  strougcst  just  after  noon, 

and  does  not  leave  you  till  the  need  for  his  freshness  passes 
away  with  the  sunset.  He  strikes  the  coast  soon  after 
sunrise  ;  in  Hauran,  in  June  and  July,  he  used  to  reach 

^  Luke  iii.  7.  -  Isa.  v.  24  ;  ix.  18  ;  Joel  i.  19  f.  ;  ii.  3. 

^  Ps.  civ.  4  ;  Book  of  Enoch  Ixxvi.  *  Luke  xii.  54. 

^  Ankel,  0^.  ciL,  pp.  84  ff,  gives  a  number  of  figures  for  Jerusalem.  From 
May  to  October  dry  winds  blow  from  NW.  78  "8  days  ;  from  W.  27*5  ;  from 
N.  26'5.  In  the  rainy  months  W.  and  SW.  winds  blow  for  an  average  of  607 
days,  from  NE.,E.,and  SE.,  67-4.     For  wind  at  Sarona.  see  P. E.F.Q.,  1892. 


TJie  Climate  and  Fertility  of  the  Land        67 

us  between  10  and  12  o'clock,  and  blew  so  well  that  the 
hours  previous  to  that  were  generally  the  hottest  of  our 
day.  The  peasants  do  all  their  winnowing  against  this 
steady  wind,  and  there  is  no  happier  scene  in  the  land  than 
afternoon  on  the  threshing-floors,  when  he  rustles  the 
thickly-strewn  sheaves,  and  scatters  the  chaff  before  him.^ 
The  other  winds  are  much  more  infrequent  and  irregular. 
From  the  north  wind  blows  chiefly  in  October,  and  brings 
a  dry  cold.^  The  name  Sherkiyeh,  our  Sirocco,  literally 
*  the  east,'  is  used  of  all  winds  blowing  in  from 

The  Sirocco. 

the  desert — east,  south-east,  south,  and  even 
south-south-west.  They  are  hot  winds :  when  ye  see  the 
south-ivind  btouti,  ye  say,  There  will  be  heat,  and  it  cometh  to 
pass?  They  come  with  a  mist  of  fine  sand,  veiling  the  sun, 
scorching  vegetation,  and  bringing  languor  and  fever  to 
men.  They  are  most  painful  airs,  and  if  the  divine  eco- 
nomy were  only  for  our  physical  benefit,  inexplicable,  for 
they  neither  carry  rain  nor  help  at  harvest.  A  dry  tvindof 
the  high  places  in  the  wilderness  toward  the  daughter  of  My 
people,  neither  to  fan  nor  to  clea7ise.^  They  blow  chiefly  in 
the  spring,  and  for  a  day  at  a  time.  The  following  extracts, 
from  our  diary  in  1891,  will  give  some  impression  of  what 
these  hot  sandy  winds  make  of  the  atmosphere.     It  will 

^  The  explanation  of  this  daily  wind  is,  of  course,  that  the  limestone  of 
Syria  heats  up  under  the  sun  far  more  quickly  than  the  sea,  but  after  sunset 
cools  again  more  rapidly,  so  that  the  night  breezes,  after  an  interval  of  great 
stillness  just  following  sunset,  blow  in  the  opposite  direction  from  the  day 
ones.  Ankel  {op  cit.,  p.  85)  rightly  emphasises  the  importance  of  those  daily 
winds.  Robinson, /"//j^.  6"^^^.,  p.  278,  remarks  on  their  regularity.  From  June 
3  to  16  they  had  the  north-west  wind  '  from  the  time  we  left  the  Ghor  till  we 
arrived  at  Nazareth.  The  air  was  fine  and  mostly  clear,  and,  although  the 
mercury  ranged  from  80°  to  96°,  the  heat  was  not  burdensome. '  Yet  at  Ekron, 
under  the  same  wind,  the  thermometer  rose  to  105°,  and  in  the  sun  only  to  ioS°. 

2  Job  xxxvii.  9.     Cf.  Ankel,  op.  cit.,  p.  86.  *  Luke  xii.  55. 

*  Jer.  iv.  II.     Cf.  Ezck.  xvii.  10;  xix.  12;  IIos,  xiii.  15. 


68      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

be  noticed  how  readily  they  pass  over  into  rain,  by  a  slight 
change  in  the  direction,  from  SSW.  to  full  SW. : — 

Edh-Dhaheriyah,  Saturday,  April  25  (in  the  Negeb,  four  hours 
south  of  Hebron),  8  p.m. — Night  dark  and  clear,  with  moon  in 
first  quarter.     Temp.  58°  Fahr.  ;  11  p.m.  62°,  moon  hazy. 

Sunday. — 8  A.M.  78°.  Hot  wind  blowing  from  south,  yet 
called  Sherkeh  or  Sherkiyeh,  i.e.  east  wind,  by  our  men. 
Temperature  rapidly  rises  to  88"  at  10,  and  90°  at  12.  Sky 
drumly  all  forenoon,  but  the  sun  casts  shadows.  Atmosphere 
thickening.  At  1.45  wind  rises,  93°  ;  2.30,  gale  blowing,  air 
filled  with  fine  sand,  horizon  shortened  to  a  mile,  sun  not 
visible,  grey  sky,  but  still  a  slight  shadow  cast  by  the  tents. 
View  from  tent-door  of  light  grey  limestone  land  under  dark  grey 
sky,  misty  range  of  hills  a  mile  away,  and  one  camel  visible ; 
3.40,  wind  begins  to  moderate,  temp.  93° ;  4.40,  strong  wind, 
half-gale,  83° ;  5  p.m.,  wind  SSW.,  temp.  78°.  Wind  veers 
round  a  little  further  W.  in  the  course  of  the  evening ;  6  p.m. 
temp.  72° ;  sunset,  68°  ;  10.30  p.m.,  63°.  A  slight  shower  of 
rain,  stormy-looking  night,  with  clouds  gathering  in  from  many 
quarters.  The  grey  town's  eastern  face  lit  up  by  the  moon,  and 
very  weird  against  the  clouds,  which  are  heaped  together  on  the 
western  sky,  and  also  reflect  the  moonlight. 

Monday,  April  27. — Rain  at  intervals  through  the  night,  with 
high  SW.  wind  endangering  the  tents;  5.45  a.m.  temp.  58°. 
Distant  hills  under  mist,  with  the  sun  breaking  through.  Scud- 
ding showers,  grey  clouds,  no  blue  sky.  Impression  of  land- 
scape as  in  Scottish  uplands  with  little  agriculture.  Left  camp 
6.30.  Most  of  the  day  dull  and  windy.  Cleared  up  towards 
evening,  with  sunshine. 

Here  is  another  Sherkiyeh  nearly  three  weeks  later,  in 
Samaria,  between  Sebastiyeh  and  Jenin  : 

May  II. — At  Sebastiyeh  at  sunrise  the  temperature  was  only 
48°  with  a  slight  west  wind.  Towards  noon,  under  the  same 
wind,  it  rose  to  80°.  But  then  the  wind  changed.  A  Sherkiyeh 
blew  from  SSE.,  and  at  2  p.m.,  at  our  resting-place,  Kubatiyeh, 
which  is  high  and  open,  it  was  92°.     Sun  veiled,  afternoon  dull 


The  Climate  and  Fertility  of  the  Land        69 

At  5,  at  Jenin,  'En-gannim,  it  was  88°,  with  more  sunshine.  At 
10,  it  was  still  84°.  A  few  hours  later  we  were  wakened  by  cold. 
The  wind  had  changed  to  the  West,  the  temperature  was  72°. 
At  sunrise  it  was  68°. 

These  two  instances — and  between  them  we  experienced 
two  others  at  Jerusalem,  one  of  which  lasted  for  two  days 
— will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  what  is  the  east  wind, 
or  sirocco.  '  It  will  be  seen  from  them  that  in  Palestine 
this  wind  does  not  inflict  on  men  more  than  great  dis- 
comfort, with  a  strong  possibility  of  fever.  In  the  desert, 
where  the  sand  is  loose,  it  is  different :  there  have  been 
cases  in  which  whole  caravans  were  overwhelmed  by  the 
sirocco  between  Egypt  and  Palestine ;  but  once  on  the 
fertile  hills,  there  is  no  danger  to  life  from  the  sand-clouds, 
and  the  farther  north  they  travel,  the  less  disagreeable 
does  their  haze  become.^ 

Yet  sometimes  the  east  wind  breaks  with  great  violence 
even  on  the  coast.  Tents  may  be  carried  away  by  wicked 
gusts.-  It  was  to  an  east  wind  that  Jeremiah  likened  the 
scattering  of  Israel,  by  an  east  wind  that  Ezekiel  saw 
the  ships  of  Tyre  broken,  and  the  Psalmist  the  ships  of 
Tarshish.^ 

We  have  seen,  then,  how  broken  the  surface  of  Palestine 
is  ;  how  opposite  are  its  various  aspects,  seaward  and 
towards  the  desert ;  how  suddenly  changing  and  how 
contrary  its  winds.  All  this  will  have  prepared  us  for 
the  fact  that  its  differences  of  temperature  are  also 
very  great  —  great  between   one   part  of  the 

■'     °  '1  emperature. 

country  and  another,  great  between  summer 

and  winter,  but  relatively  greater  between  day  and  night 

^  Cf.  Robinson,  Phys.  Geog.,  pp.  279,  2S0.      ^  Lynch,  Official  Report,  p.  74. 
*  Jer.  xviii.  17  ;  Ezek.  xxvii.  26  ;  cf.  xix.  12  ;  Ps.  xlviii.  7. 


JO     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  between  one  part  of  the  day  and  another.  Here  are 
some  instances  :  On  one  of  his  journeys,  Robinson  ex- 
perienced in  May,  in  the  mountains  of  Judsea,  a  pleasant 
temperature  of  from  80°  to  96°  under  a  fresh  west  wind  ; 
but  at  Ekron  in  the  plain,  though  the  wind  was  the  same, 
the  heat  had  risen  to  105°,  and  the  sultry  air  had  all  the 
characteristics  of  a  sirocco.  Coming  down  from  the 
plateau  of  Moab  to  the  Jordan,  on  July  7th,  we  found 
the  temperature  at  Heshbon  at  9  A.M.,  when  the  sun  was 
near  his  full  strength,  only  'j6° ;  but  on  the  edge  of  the 
Ghor  at  noon  it  was  103° ;  on  Jordan,  at  2.30  P.M.,  101°  ; 
and  at  Jericho  throughout  the  night  not  less  than  89°. 
On  the  heights  of  Gadara,  from  the  afternoon  of  the 
23rd  to  the  forenoon  of  the  27th  June,  the  mid-day 
temperature  had  ranged  under  the  west  wind  from  82° 
to  90°,  the  evening  temperature  (between  6  and  10  p.m.) 
from  70°  to  ']&',  while  the  lowest  morning  temperature  just 
before  sunrise  was  65°.     But   at   the  sulphur 

Its  extremes. 

baths  of  Hammath,  just  below  Gadara,  the 
mid-day  temperature  on  the  24th  of  June  was  100°,  and  at 
3  P.M.  still  96°  ;  while  at  Pella,  near  the  Jordan  Valley, 
on  the  28th  and  29th  June,  we  had  a  mid-day  tempera- 
ture from  98°  to  101°,  a  sunrise  temperature  of  74°,  and 
at  10  P.M.  78".  Yet  after  we  rose,  on  the  evening  of  the 
29th,  to  the  Wady  Yabis  in  Gilead,  at  10  P.M.,  it  was 
only  69°,  and  next  mid-day  at  Ajlun  Z6°,  and  at  10  P.M. 
64°,  and  at  sunrise  next  morning  58°.  These  are  changes 
between  different  localities,  but  even  at  the  same  spot 
the  range  in  temperature  is  great.  We  have  seen  that 
caused  by  the  sirocco — in  one  instance  from  48°  at  sun- 
rise to  92°  by  2  P.M.  But  take  an  instance  when  there 
was  no  sirocco.     On  the  23rd  of  April,  at  Beit-Jibrin  at 


The  Climate  and  Fertility  of  the  Land        7  i 

sunrise,  the  thermometer  stood  at  42° ;  from  11  to  3  it 
ranged  over  85°.  At  Laish  it  sank,  in  a  storm  of  wind 
and  rain,  from  88°  to  72°  in  very  little  over  a  quarter 
of  an  hour ;  but  changes  as  sudden,  and  even  more 
extreme,  are  not  uncommon  down  the  whole  of  the 
Jordan  Valley.^ 

But  these  extremes  of  heat  which  in  summer  surround 
the  Central  Range  of  Palestine,  and  these  ample  changes 
of  temperature  must  not  be  allowed  to  confuse  our  minds 
with  regard  to  the  temperate  and  equable  climate  which 
this  part  of  the  land,  Israel's  proper  territory,  enjoys 
throughout  the  year.  In  all  the  world  there  are  few 
healthier  homes.  The  mean  annual  temperature  varies 
from  62°  to  68°.  Except  when  the  sirocco  blows,  the 
warmest  days  of  summer  seldom  exceed  90°,  and  the 
cold  of  winter  still  more  seldom  falls  to  freezing-point, 
February  is  the  coldest  month,  with  a  mean  temperature 
of  about  46°.  Through  March  and  April  this  rises  from 
54°  to  61° ;  in  May  and  June  from  65°  to  74° ;  July  and 
August,  y^^  \  September  and  October,  75°  to  68°.  After 
the  rains  there  is  a  fall  in  November  to  about  60°,  and  in 
December  to  52°.  The  snows,  the  less  sunshine,  and  the 
cold  north-east  winds,  are  sufficient  to  account  for  the 
further  fall  in  January  to  49°.^ 

We  have  now  carefully  surveyed  the  rains,  winds,  and 
temperatures  of  Palestine.  For  the  mass  of  the  land 
lifted  from  1000  to  2000  feet  above  the  sea,  the  result  is  a 
temperate  climate,  with  the  annual  seasons  perhaps  more 

^  Lynch's  Narrative;  cf.  Daily  Range,  Sarona,  P.E.F.Q.,  1891 ;  Jems., 
id.,  1893. 

"^  These  figures  are  arrived  at  after  a  comparison  of  Barclay's  for  the  years 
1851  to  1855  {City  of  the  Great  King,  p.  428),  and  those  given  by  Chaplin, 
P.E.F.Q.,  1883,  and  Glaisher,  id.,  1893-4.     Cf.  Wittmann,  561-570. 


72      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

regular,  but  the  daily  variations  of  heat  certainly  much 
greater,  than  is  the  case  throughout  the  most  of  the  tem- 
Raciai  effect  perate  zoHC.  On  her  hills  and  table-lands 
of  the  climate.  ^sra^eX  enjoyed  all  the  advantages  of  a  healthy 
and  bracing  climate,  with  the  addition  of  such  stimulus 
and  strain  as  come  from  a  considerable  range  of  the  daily 
temperature,  as  well  as  from  the  neighbourhood  of  extreme 
heat,  in  the  Jordan  Valley  and  in  the  Western  Plain,  to 
which  the  business  of  their  life  obliged  most  of  the  nation 
very  frequently  to  descend.  Some  tribes  suffered  these 
changes  of  temperature  more  regularly  than  others.  Most 
subject  to  them  were  the  highlanders  of  Mount  Ephraim, 
who  had  fields  in  the  Jordan  Valley,  and  the  Galileans, 
whose  province  included  both  the  heights  of  Naphtali  and 
the  tropical  basin  in  which  the  Lake  of  Galilee  lies.  In 
their  journeys  through  this  land — from  the  Jordan  to 
Cana,  from  Nazareth  to  Capernaum,  from  Capernaum  to 
the  highlands  of  Caesarea  Philippi — our  Lord  and  His 
disciples,  often  with  no  roof  to  cover  their  heads  at  night, 
must  have  felt  the  full  range  of  the  ample  Syrian  tem- 
perature. But  these  are  the  conditions  which  breed  a 
hardy  and  an  elastic  frame  of  body.  The  national  type, 
which  was  formed  in  them  for  nearly  two  millennia,  was 
certain  to  prove  at  once  tough  and  adaptable.  To  the 
singular  variety  of  the  climate  in  which  the  Jewish  nation 
grew  up  we  may  justly  trace  much  of  the  physical  per- 
sistence and  versatility  which  has  made  Jews  at  home  in 
every  quarter  of  the  globe.  This  is  something  very  different 
from  the  purely  Semitic  frame  of  body,  which  has  been 
tempered  only  by  the  monotonous  conditions  of  the 
desert.  The  Arab  has  never  proved  himself  so  successful 
a  colonist  as  the  Jew.     And  we  have  in  these  times  another 


The  Climate  and  Fci'tiiity  of  I  he  Land  73 

instance  of  the  tempering  influences  of  the  cHmate  of 
Palestine.  The  emigration  of  Syrians  from  the  Turkish 
Empire  is  steadily  proceeding,  and  the  Syrians  are 
making  good  colonists  in  America  and  in  Australia. 

There  is  one  other  effect  of  the  climate  of  the  Holy 
Land  which  is  quite  as  important.  It  is  a  climate  which 
lends  itself  to  the  service  of  moral  ideas. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  mechanically  regular.  Unlike 
that  of  Egypt,  the  climate  of  Syria  does  not  depend  upon 
a  few  simple  and  unfailing  phenomena — upon 

^  ^    ^  ^  Climate  not 

one  great  instrument  like  the  Nile  to  whose   mechanically 

regular. 

operations  man  has  but  to  link  his  own  and  the 
fruits  of  the  year  are  inevitable.  In  the  Palestine  year 
there  is  no  inevitableness.  Fertility  does  not  spring  from 
a  source  which  is  within  control  of  man's  spade,  and  by 
which  he  can  defy  a  brazen  and  illiberal  heaven.  It  comes 
down  from  heaven,  and  if  heaven  sometimes  withholds  it, 
there  is  nothing  else  within  man's  reach  to  substitute  for 
it.  The  climate  of  Palestine  is  regular  enough  to  pro- 
voke men  to  methodical  labour  for  its  fruits,  but  the  regu- 
larity is  often  interrupted.  The  early  rains  or  the  latter 
rains  fail,  drought  comes  occasionally  for  two  years  in 
succession,  and  that  means  famine  and  pestilence.  There 
are,  too,  the  visitations  of  the  locust,  which  are  said  to  be 
bad  every  fifth  or  sixth  year ;  and  there  are  earthquakes, 
also  periodical  in  Syria.  Thus  a  purely  mechanical  con- 
ception of  nature  as  something  certain  and  inevitable, 
whose  processes  are  more  or  less  under  man's  control,  is 
impossible  ;  and  the  imagination  is  roused  to  feel  the  pre- 
sence of  a  will  behind  nature,  in  face  of  whose  interrup- 
tions of  the  fruitfulness  or  stability  of  the  land  man  is 
absolutely  helpless.      To  such  a  climate,  then,  is  partly 


74      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

due  Israel's  doctrine  of  Providence.     The  author  of  the 

Book  of  Deuteronomy,  to  whom  we  owe  so  much  insight 

into  the  religious  influences  of  the  Promised 

The  Climate  .  ^  •     ^  •  i       i        i 

and  Provi-  Land,  emphasises  this  by  contrasting  the  land 
with  Egypt.  For  the  land,  whither  thou  goest 
in  to  possess  it,  is  not  like  the  land  of  Egypt,  whence  ye  came 
out,  where  thou  sowedst  thy  seed,  and  zvateredst  it  zvith  thy 
foot,  as  a  garden  of  herbs — that  is,  where  everything  is  so 
In  Deutero-  niuch  Under  man's  control,  where  man  has  all 
nomy.  nature  at  his  foot  like  a  little  garden,  where 

he  has  but  to  link  himself  to  the  mechanical  processes 
of  nature,  and  the  fruits  of  the  year  are  inevitable. 
But  the  land,  whither  ye  are  passing  over  to  possess  it,  is  a 
land  of  hills  and  valleys,  of  the  rain  of  heaven  it  drinketh 
ivater:  a  land  which  fehovah  thy  God  Himself  looketh 
after ;  continually  are  the  eyes  of  Jehovah  thy  God  upon  it, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  year,  evefi  to  the  end  of  the  year. 
That  is,  the  climate  of  Egypt  is  not  one  which  of  itself 
suggests  a  personal  Providence,  but  the  climate  of  Pales- 
tine does  so.  And  it  shall  be,  if  ye  indeed  hearken  to  my 
commandments,  which  I  am  commanding  you  to-day,  to  love 
Jehovah  your  God,  to  worship  Him  with  all  your  heart,  and 
with  all  your  soul,  that  then  I  will  give  the  rain  of  the  land 
in  its  season — early  rain  and  latter  rain, — and  thou  shalt 
gather  thy  corn  and  thine  oil  A  nd  I  zvill  give  grass  in  thy 
fields  for  thy  cattle,  and  thou  shalt  eat  and  be  full.  Take 
heed  to  yourselves,  lest  your  heart  be  beguiled,  and  ye  turn 
aside  and  worship  other  gods  and  bow  down  to  them  ;  and 
the  wrath  of  Jehovah  grow  hot  against  you,  a?id  He  shut  up 
the  heaven,  that  there  be  no  rain,  and  the  ground  yield  not 
her  increase  ;  and  ye  perish  off  the  good  lajid  which  Jehovah 
is  giving  you  (Deut.  xi.). 


The  Clwiaie  and  Fei'tility  of  the  Land        75 

Two  remarkable  passages  in  the  prophets  give  us  in- 
stances of  this  general  principle.  Through  Amos  Jehovah 
reminds  His  people  of  recent  drought,  famine,  mildew  and 
blasting,  pestilence  and  earthquake,  and  reproaches  them 
that  after  each  of  these  they  did  not  return  to  j„  ^,^^5 
Him  :  ^  yet  have  ye  not  returned  unto  Ale,  saith  ^^^  isaiah. 
Jehovah,  And  Isaiah,  perhaps  alluding  to  the  same  series 
of  climatic  disturbances,  speaks  in  a  different  order,  of 
earthquake,  drought  with  forest  fires  and  a  famine,  and 
complains  that,  in  spite  of  them,  the  people  are  still  im- 
penitent :  for  all  this  His  anger  is  not  turned  away,  hnt 
His  hand  is  stretched  out  si  ill} 

It  was  a  moral  Providence,  then,  which  the  prophets  read 
in  the  climate  of  their  land.  Now,  there  were  features  in 
this  which  of  themselves  might  suggest  such  a  reading. 
The  hardness  of  man's  life  even  in  the  best  of  seasons,  for 
Palestine  needs  persistent  toil  to  be  fruitful,  the  uniqueness  of 
presence  of  the  desert,  the  drought,  the  earth-  !,^["neof  Provi- 
quake,the  locusts — these  spontaneously  suggest  d^"«=^- 
a  purpose  at  work  for  other  than  material  ends.  But  Israel 
could  not  have  read  in  them  the  high  moral  Providence 
which  she  did  read,  with  a  God  of  another  character  than 
Jehovah.  Look  at  her  neighbours.  They  experienced 
the  same  droughts,  thunderstorms  and  earthquakes  ;  but 
these  do  not  appear  to  have  suggested  to  them  any  other 
ideas  than  the  wrath  of  the  Deity,  who  had  therefore  to 
be  propitiated  by  the  horrible  sacrifices  of  manhood, 
feminine  purity  and    child   life,   which    have   made   their 

^  Amos  iv.  6-1 1. 

^  Isaiah  v,  25,  ix.  8-21,  v.  26-30.  These  passages  are  connected  by  the 
same  refrain,  they  belong  to  the  same  series,  and  must  originally  have  stood 
together.  We  need  not  suppose  that  either  prophet  was  bound  to  follow  the 
real  sequence.     Amos  puts  famine  before  drought. 


76      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

religions  so  revolting.  Israel  also  felt  God  was  angry, 
but  because  He  was  such  a  God,  and  had  revealed 
Himself  as  He  had  done  in  the  past,  they  knew  that  He 
punished  them  through  their  climate,  not  to  destroy,  but 
to  warn  and  turn,  his  rebel  folk.  The  Syrian  year  and 
its  interruptions  play  an  equal  part  in  the  Phoenician 
religions  and  in  the  Hebrew  prophets'  doctrine  of  Provi- 
dence. But  while  in  the  former  they  lead  to  mutilation 
and  horrible  sacrifices,  in  the  latter  they  are  the  reminder 
that  man  does  not  live  by  the  bread  of  the  year  alone : 
they  are  calls  to  conscience,  to  repentance,  to  purity. 
And  what  makes  the  difference  on  that  same  soil,  and 
under  those  same  heavens,  is  the  character  of  Israel's 
God.  All  the  Syrian  religions  reflect  the  Syrian  climate  ; 
Israel  alone  interprets  it  for  moral  ends,  because  Israel 
alone  has  a  God  who  is  absolute  righteousness. 

Here,  then,  is  another  of  those  many  points  at  which 
the  Geography  of  Syria  exhausts  the  influence  of  the 
material  and  the  seen,  and  indicates  the  presence  on  the 
land  of  the  unseen  and  the  spiritual. 

II.  The  Fertility  of  the  Land. 

The  long  rainy  season  in  Palestine  means  a  consider- 
able rainfall,^  and  while  it  lasts  the  land  gets  a  thorough 
soaking.     Every  highland   gorge,  every   low- 

Winter  rains 

and  Summer     land   vallcy-bed — nearly  every  one   of  those 

wadies  which  are  dry  in  summer,  and  to  the 

traveller  at  that  season  seem  the  channels  of  some  ancient 

and    forgotten    flood — is   filled   annually  with   a  roaring 

1  Annual  rainfall  at  Nazareth  is  about  6i  centimetres  ;  at  Jerusalem,  57  ; 
whileat  Athensit  is4o;  Constantinople,  70;  Vienna,  44;  London,  58;  Paris, 
SO ;  Rome,  80.— So  Anderlind,  Z.D.P.V.,  viii.  loi  ff.    Cf.  P.E.F.Q.  1894. 


The  Climate  and  Fertility  of  the  Land        77 

torrent,  while  many  of  the  high  meadows  are  lakes,  and 
plains  like  Esdraelon  become  in  part  quagmires.  But 
the  land  is  limestone  and  very  porous.  The  heavy  rains 
are  quickly  drained  away,  the  wadies  are  left  dry,  the 
lakes  become  marshes,  or  dwindle  to  dirty  ponds,^  and 
on  the  west  of  Jordan  there  remain  only  a  very  few  short 
perennial  streams,  of  which  but  one  or  two,  and  these 
mere  rills,  are  found  in  the  hill-country.  At  the  foot  of 
the  hills,  however,  there  burst  forth  all  through  the  summer 
not  only  such  springs  as  we  have  in  our  own  land,  but 
large  and  copious  fountains,  from  three  to  twenty  feet  in 
breadth,  and  one  to  three  feet  in  depth — some  with  broad 
pools  full  of  fish,  and  some  sending  forth  streams  strong 
enough  to  work  mills  a  few  yards  away.  These  fountain- 
heads,  as  they  are  called,^  are  very  characteristic  features 
of  the  Syrian  summer ;  in  the  midst  of  the  dust  and  rust 
of  the  rest  of  the  land  they  surprise  you  with  their  wealth 
of  water  and  rank  vegetation.  They  are  chiefly  found  at 
the  foot  of  Hermon,  where  three  of  them  give  -phe  summer 
birth  to  the  Jordan,  along  both  bases  of  the  ^^'^"^^ 
Central  Range,  in  the  Jordan  Valley  and  the  Western 
Plain,  and  in  Esdraelon  at  the  foot  of  Gilboa  and  of  the 
Samaritan  hills.  There  are  smaller  editions  of  them 
among  the  hills  of  Galilee  and  Samaria,  but  in  the  table- 
land of  Judaea  the  springs  are  few  and  meagre,  and  the 
inhabitants  store  the  winter  rain  in  pits,  partly  natural, 
partly  built.  On  the  plains  water  may  be  got  in  most 
places  by  boring  and  pumping.^ 

^  Very  occasionally  these  winter  laltes  will  be  large  through  the  whole 
summer.  The  Merj  el  Ghuruk,  when  we  passed  it  in  May  1S91,  was  a  very 
extensive  lake.     So  with  Buttauf  in  Galilee, 

-  Ras  el  'Ain. 

*  The  presence  of  'Ain,  well  or  spring,  in  place-names  is  very  common, 


\ 


yS      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

On  the  east  of  the  Jordan  water  is  much  more  plentiful. 
There  are  several  long  perennial  rivers  draining  the  eastern 
Water  East  desert,  and  watering  all  the  plateaus  between 
of  Jordan,  j^.  ^^^^  ^j^g  Jordan  Valley,  the  eastern  half  of 
which  might  easily  be  irrigated  by  them  in  its  entire  extent. 
Springs  are  more  frequent,  and,  although  streams  are  fewer 
to  the  north  of  the  Yarmuk  than  to  the  south,  the  soil  on 
the  north  is  deep  volcanic  mould  on  a  basalt  basis,  and 
holds  its  winter  moisture  far  longer  than  the  limestone. 

The  distribution    of  water,   then,  unequal    as    it   is,  is 

another  factor  in  heightening  the  complexity  of  this  land 

of  contrasts.     Take  it  along  with  the  immense 

Inequality  of  „  r  i  i  i  •  i       i 

distribution       differences  of  level  and  temperature,  with  the 

differences    of    aspect,   seaward    and    to    the 

desert,  and  you  begin  to  understand  what  a  mixture  of 


but  we  must  not  infer  from  this  that  living  water  is  present.  It  is  not  so  at 
'Ain  Shems  ;  at  'Ain  Sinia  there  is  only  a  blr,  or  cistern  of  rain-water  (Robin- 
son, Phys.  Geog.,  219,  220).  At  the  foot  of  the  hills  the  chief  large  fountains 
that  are  characteristic  of  Syria  are  the  following  : — On  the  Western  Plain, 
between  Tyre  and  Akkah  at  Ras  el  'Ain,  at  'Ain  el  Musheirifeh,  at  EI- 
Kabireh,  at  Birweh,  and  at  Tell  Kurdany,  the  source  of  the  Belus.  Along 
north  base  of  Carmel  the  Kishon  is  fed  by  copious  springs.  South  of  Carmel 
we  have  the  sources  of  the  Zerka,  Subbarin  and  Umm-esh  Shukaf,  whence 
aqueducts  went  to  Ctesarea,  and  some  other  spots  at  the  roots  of  the 
Samarian  hills,  like  Ras  el  'Ain,  whence  the  'Aujeh  flows.  In  the  Shephelah 
there  are  several  wells ;  water  can  always  be  got  by  boring  on  the  Philistine 
plain ;  Askalon  and  Gaza  are  noted  for  their  wells,  and  the  wadies  near  the 
sea  have  fresh  water  for  most  of  the  year.  The  streams  in  the  Negeb  are 
only  winter  streams  (Psalm  cxxvi.) ;  the  wells  are  few.  Along  the  western 
base  of  the  Judsean  range  are  some  copious  fountains,  chiefly  at  faults  in  the 
strata  in  the  gorges  leading  up  to  the  plateau,  e.g.  'Ain  el  Kuf,  in  the  W. 
el  Kuf.  In  a  cave  in  a  gorge  off  W.  en  Najil  I  found  abundance  of  water  in 
May.  The  Judsean  plateau  has  many  cisterns  and  pools,  but  few*springs, 
and  almost  no  large  ones.  There  are  two  springs  between  Edh-Dhaheriyah 
and  Hebron — perhaps  ihe  upper  and  nether  springs  of  Caleb  (Josh.  xv.  19) ; 
twelve  small  springs  about  Hebron,  and  over  thirty  have  been  counted 
within  a  radius  of  ten  miles  from  Jerusalem,  but  only  those  at  King 
Solomon's  Pools  yield  a  considerable  quantity  of  water.     Samaria  is  more 


The  Climate  and  Fertility  of  the  Land       79 

soils  Palestine  is,  and  how  her  fauna  and  flora  range 
along  every  degree  between  the  Alpine  and  tropical,  be- 
tween the  forms  of  the  Mediterranean  basin  and  those  of 
desert  life,  while  she  still  cherishes,  in  that  peculiar  deep 
trench  down  the  middle  of  her,  animals  and  plants  related 
to  those  of  distant  lands,  with  which  in  previous  geological 
periods  she  had  closer  relations. 

As  to  soils,  every  reader  of  the  Bible  is  made  to  feel 
how  near  in  Palestine  the  barren  lies  to  the  fruitful. 
Apart  from  the  desert  proper,  which  comes  up 

The  Soil. 

almost  to  the  gates  of  the  Judaean  cities,  how 
much  land  is  described  as  only  pasture,  and  this  so  dry 
that  there  is  constant  strife  for  the  wells  upon  it?     How 
often  do  we  hear  of  tJie  field,  the  rough,  uncultivated,  but 
not  wholly  barren,  bulk  of  the  hill-country,  where   the 

favoured,  especially  at  Khan  Lubban,  the  W.  Kanah,  Salim,  Nablus  (where 
the  deep  vale  between  Gerizim  and  Ebal  has  running  water  all  the  year 
round),  Fendakumieh,  Jeba,  Tell  Dothan,  Lejjun,  and  Jenln.  On  the 
northern  base  of  Gilboa  there  are  'Ain  Jalud  and  three  other  fountains, 
making  a  considerable  stream.  In  Galilee  there  are  springs  at  Shunem, 
Khan  el  Tajjar  (two,  one  large),  Ilattin  (large),  Nazareth,  Seffurieh  (large), 
Gischala,  Tibnln,  Kedesh  (two,  both  large),  and  other  places.  Along  the 
eastern  base  of  the  Central  Range,  in  the  Ghor,  are  many  large  and  very 
copious  fountains — most  of  them  more  or  less  lirackish  and  warm — opposite 
Merom,  'Amudiyeh,  Belateh,  Mellahah,  all  copious,  with  streams;  the  last 
two  very  large,  then  the  smaller  Mughar  and  Kuba'a.  On  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  Lake  el  Tabighah,  a  fount  with  stream,  'Ain  et  Tineh  and 
Mudawarah,  with  large  pools;  'Ain  el  Baridah,  with  small  pools;  the  hot 
springs  at  the  Baths  of  Tiberias  ;  about  Beisan  many  springs  and  thence 
down  the  Jordan  at  frequent  intervals,  especially  at  Sakfit,  W.  Malih  (salt 
and  warm),  Kerawa,  Fusail,  'Aujeh,  'Ain  Duk,  'Ain  es  Sultan  (near  Jericho), 
'Ain  Hajla,  out  on  the  plain.  And  along  the  coast  of  the  Dead  Sea  Jehair, 
Feshkhah  (both  brackish  and  warm),  Ghuweir  (small),  Terabeh,  'Ain  Jidy, 
and  'Areijeh,  whose  streams  are  copious,  produce  thickets  and  fields,  but  are 
lost  even  before  the  sea  is  reached.  Of  longer  streams  from  the  west  the 
Jordan  receives  the  Jalud  at  Bethshean,  the  Fari'ah,  and  the  Kelt — the 
first  two  perennial,  the  last  almost  so.  The  waters  on  the  Eastern  Range 
will  be  treated  further  on. 


8o     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

beasts  of  the  fields  that  is,  wild  beasts,  found  sufificient  room 

to  breed  and  become  a  serious  hindrance,  from  first  to 

last,  to  Israel's  conquest  of  the  land.^     1\i\s  field  i?,  a  great 

element  in  the  Old  Testament  landscape,  and 

The  Field.  •        -^   ^       i         •       .1  r 

we  recognise  it  to-day  in  the  tracts  of  moor- 
land, hillside  and  summit,  jungle  and  bare  rock,  which 
make  up  so  much  of  the  hill-country,  and  can  never  have 
been  cultivated  even  for  vines.  How  much  of  this  field 
was  forest  must  remain  a  debateable  question.  On  the 
one  hand,  where  there  are  now  only  some  fragments  of 
wood,  writers,  even  down  to  the  Crusades,  describe  large 

forests  like  that  of  Northern  Sharon  ;  the  word 

Woodland.  . 

for  wood  occurs  in  place-names,  where  there 
are  now  few  trees,  as  in  Judaea  and  Jaulan  ;  you  see 
enormous  roots  here  and  there  even  on  the  bare  plateau  of 
Judaea  ;  palm  groves  have  disappeared  from  the  Jordan 
Valley,  and  elsewhere  you  may  take  for  granted  that 
the  Turk  has  not  left  the  land  so  well  wooded  as  he 
found  it.  On  the  other  hand,  copse  and  wood  cover 
many  old  clearings  as  on  Carmel  ;  on  the  Central 
Range,  the  Old  Testament  speaks  only  of  isolated  large 
trees,  of  copses  and  small  woods,  but  looks  for  its  ideal 
forests  to  Gilead,  Bashan,  and  Lebanon ;  and  there  is 
very  little  mention  of  the  manufacture  of  large  native 
wood.2 

The  truth  is,  that  the  conditions  for  the  growth  of  such 
large  forests  as  we  have  in  Europe  and  America,  are  not 
present  in  Palestine  :  the  Hebrew  word  we  translate  y^r^j/ 

^  Field,  rnji*>  Js  used  not  only  for  this  wild  moorland  and  hillside,  but  also 
for  cultivated  soil,  and  for  the  territory  belonging  to  a  town. 

2  Isaiah  ix.  lo.  For  the  temple  cedar  was  imported  from  Lebanon.  The 
Israelites  do  not  appear  to  have  used  coffins,  2  Kings  xiii.  21  ;  cf.  Ankel, 
op.  cit.,  p.  104. 


The  Climate  aini  Fertility  of  the  Laud        8i 

ought  to  be  woodland,  and  perhaps  only  copse  or  Jungle,^ 
aqd  we  may  safely  conclude  that  the  land  was  never  very 
much  more  wooded  than  it  is  to-day.  The  distribution  of 
woodland  may  have  been  different,  but  the  woods  were 
what  we  find  the  characteristic  Palestine  wood  still  to 
be — open  and  scattered,  the  trees  distinguished  rather  for 
thickness  than  height,  and  little  undergrowth  when  com- 
pared with  either  a  northern  or  a  tropical  forest-  Here 
and  there  groves  of  larger  trees,  or  solitary  giants  of  their 
kind,  may  have  stood  conspicuous  on  the  bare  landscape. 
The  chief  forest  trees  are  several  varieties  of  oak,  including 
the  ilex,  of  terebinth,^  and  carob,  and  box  that       ^ 

Trees. 

grows  to  a  height  of  twenty  feet,  with  a  few 
pines  and  cypresses,  and  by  water  plane  trees.  i\ll  these 
were  trees  of  God,  that  is,  planted  by  Him  and  not  by 
man.  The  only  others  of  equal  size  were  the  walnut, 
mentioned  by  Josephus  as  numerous  above  the  Lake  of 
Galilee,  and  the  sycomore,  used  for  both  its  fruit  and  its 
timber.*  But  these  were  cultivated.  The  acacia  or  shittim- 
wood  is  common  towards  the  desert. 

Next  to  the  woods  of  Palestine,  a  high  thick  bush  forms 
one  of  her  sylvan  features.  It  consists  of  dwarf  oak, 
terebinth  and  pine,  dwarf  wild  olive,  wild  vine, 

^  '      _  '  '  Bush. 

arbutus  and  myrtle,  juniper  and  thorn.     This 
mixture  of  degraded  forms  of  forest  and  fruit-trees  repre- 
sents both  the  remains  of  former  woods  and  the  sites  of 

1  *!];<.     The  corresponding  Arabic  'ua'ar  is  rocky  ground. 
-  Yet  Richard's  army  found  the  undergrowth  very  difficult  in  the  forest  of 
Sharon.     Vinsauf,  Itin.  Ricardi,  iv.  12. 

3  It  is  often  impossible  to  tell  whether  oak  or  terebinth  is  meant  in  the  Old 

Testament.     There  are  four  words,  n?N  and  n?X  J  |i?X  and  liPX. 

■•  Amos  vii.  14  ;  Isaiah  ix.  9  {E.  V.  10) ;  I  Kings  x.  27  ;  i  Chrun.  .\xvii. 
(xxviii.)  28  ;  2  Chron.  i.  15  ;  Luke  xix.  4. 

F 


82      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

abandoned  cultivation.  In  the  bush  the  forest  and  the 
garden  meet  half  way.  Sometimes  old  oil  and  wine- 
presses are  found  beneath  it,  sometimes  great  trees,  sur- 
vivors of  old  woods,  tower  above  it.  A  few  wadies  in 
Western  Palestine,  and  many  in  Eastern,  are  filled  with 
oleanders,  ribbons  of  pink  across  the  landscape.  Willows 
are  common,  so  are  cane-brakes  where  there  is  water.  The 
rank  jungle  of  the  Jordan  and  the  stunted  flora  of  the 
desert  fall  to  be  separately  described. 

If  Palestine  be  not  a  land  of  forests,  it  is  a  land  of 

orchards.      Except   chestnuts,   which   singularly   enough 

are  not  found  here,  all  the  fruit-trees  of  the 

Fruit-trees. 

temperate  zone  flourish  in  Syria.  The  most 
common  are  the  apricot,  '  to  Syria  what  the  fig  is  to 
Smyrna  and  Ephesus,'  figs  themselves,  the  orange,  citron, 
pomegranate,  mulberry,  pistachio,  almond,  and  walnut.^ 
The  sycomore,  which  is  very  easily  grown,  is  cultivated  for 
its  timber  and  its  rough  tasteless  figs,  which,  as  well  as  the 
carob  fruit,  are  eaten  by  the  very  poor.^  The  date-palm 
used  to  be  cultivated  in  large  groves  both  on  the  Maritime 
Plain  and  in  the  Jordan  Valley,  where  it  might  still  be 
cultivated.  Near  Jericho,  large  balsam  groves  were  farmed 
^,.        ,  ,,.       down  to  Roman    times.^     But  the  two  chief 

Olive  and  Vine. 

fruit-trees  of  Palestine  are,  of  course,  the  olive 
and  the  vine,  the  olive  certainly  native  to  Syria,  and  the 
vine  probably  so.     The  cultivation  of  the  former  has  been 

1  Tristram,  Natural  History  of  the  Bible.  Cf.  Anderlind,  Die  Frucht- 
bdtane  in  Syrien  insbesondere  Paldstina,  Z.D.P.  V.  xi.  69.  Plums,  pears, 
and  apples  are  seldom  found  in  Palestine  proper.  Cherries  are  only  lately 
introduced. 

"  Amos  was  a  gatherer  of  sycomore  figs,  vii.  14  ;  the  carob  fruit  was  the 
food  of  the  Prodigal,  Luke  xv.  16. 

^  Balsamodendron  Gileadense,  still  growing  in  Southern  Syria.  Cf. 
Jer.  viii.  22. 


The  Climate  and  Fertility  of  the  Land        8 


a 


sustained  to  the  present  day,  and  was  probably  never  much 
greater  than  it  is  now.  That  of  the  vine  is  being  greatly 
revived.  The  disappearance  of  vineyards  and  not  of 
forests  is  the  difference  with  which  we  have  to  reckon 
in  the  landscape  of  Palestine.  Innumerable  hillsides,  not 
capable  of  other  cultivation,  which  were  terraced  with  green 
vineyards  to  their  summit,  now  in  their  ruin  only  exag- 
gerate the  stoniness  of  the  land.^  But  the  Germans  on 
Mount  Carmel  and  in  Judaea,  some  French  firms,  and  the 
Jesuits  in  the  Bek'a  between  the  Lebanons  are  fast  chang- 
ing all  this.  At  Salt  there  has  always  been,  as  there  is 
now,  a  great  cultivation  of  grapes  for  manufacture  into 
raisins. 

The  cultivation  of  grain  was  confined  to  the  lower 
plateaus,  the  broader  valleys,  and  the  plains.  At  this  day 
the  best  wheat-fields  are  Philistia,  Esdraelon, 

Grain. 

the  Mukhneh  to  the  east  of  Nablus,  and 
Hauran.  The  wheat  of  the  latter,  springing  from  volcanic 
soil,  is  famed  throughout  the  East.2  Barley,  given  to 
horses  and  other  beasts  of  burden,  was  the  despised  food 
of  the  poorer  peasants,  or  of  the  whole  nation  when  the 
Arabs  drove  them  from  the  plains  to  the  hills.  It  was  in 
the  shape  of  a  poor  barley  cake  that  the  Midianite  dreamt 
he  saw  Israel  rolling  down  from  the  hills  and  overturning 
his  camp  on  Esdraelon.^  Oats  were  not  grown,  but  millet 
was  common  in  ancient  times,  and  maize  is  now.  Beans, 
pulse,  and  lentils  were  largely  grown.  Garden  vegetables 
thrive  richly  wherever  there  is  summerirrigation — tomatoes, 
onions,  cucumbers,  pumpkins,  and  melons  chiefly  in  the 
plains,  but  we  received  all  these  fruits  from  the  peasants 

^  See  the  chapter  on  Judrea. 

*  See  the  chapter  on  Hauran.  '  Judges  vii.  13. 


84      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  La]id 

of  Gilead    and    the   Bedouin   of   Moab.^      It  is  doubtful 
whether  the  sugar-cane  was  known.- 

There  is,  of  course,  no  turf  in  Palestine,  and  very  little 

grass  that  lasts  through  the  summer.     After  the  rains,  tJie 

field  springs  thick  with  grasses  and  wild  grains 

Pasture.  . 

of  many  kinds,^  some  clover,  lupms,  many 
succulent  plants,  aromatic  herbs,  lilies,  anemones,  and  hosts 
of  other  wild-flowers,  but  early  summer  sees  much  of  this 
withered  away.  Lupins,  clover  and  other  plants  are 
sometimes  cultivated  for  fodder ;  but  cattle  and  sheep 
alike  must  trust  to  the  wild  pasture,  over  whose  meagre 
and  interrupted  vegetation  their  range  has  to  be  very  large. 
Only  by  the  great  fountains  and  pools  can  they  find  rich 
unfading  grass  throughout  the  year. 

Such,  then,  is  the  fertility  of  the  Holy  Land  in  forest, 
orchard,  and  field.  To  a  western  eye  it  must,  at  certain 
seasons  of  the  year,  seem  singularly  meagre  and  unin- 
fluential — incapable  of  stirring  the  imagination,or  enriching 
the  life  of  a  people.  Yet  come  in,  with  the  year  at  the 
flood,  with  the  springing  of  the  grain,  with  the  rush  of 
colour  across  the  field,  the  flush  of  green  on  the  desert,  and 
in  imagination  clothe  again  the  stony  terraces  with  the 
vines  which  in  ancient  times  trailed  from  foot  to  summit  of 
many  of  the  hills — then,  even  though  your  eye  be  western, 
you  will  feel  the  charm  and  intoxication  of  the  land.  It  is 
not,  however,  the  western  eye  we  have  to  consider.    It  is  the 

1  The  potato,  I  think,  has  just  been  introduced  to  Syria. 

-  Isaiah  xliii.  24  ;  Jeremiah  vi.  20.  Eng.  Siveet  Cane  ;  but,  according  to 
most  authorities,  identical  with  the  Calamus  (Exod.  xxx.  23  ;  Ezek.  xxvii.  19), 
a  kind  of  spice,  probably  imported. 

3  Three  Hebrew  words  are  translated  grass  :  p-|S  Jerek,  which  means  any 
green  herb  :  NK'l,  Deshe,  which  is  our  grass  proper ;  T'Vn,  Hassir,  which  is 
cut  grass  or  hay. 


The  Climate  ami  Fertility  of  the  Land        85 

effect  of  this  fertility  on  the  desert  nomads  from  whom, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  population  of  Syria  was  chiefly 
drawn.     If  even  at  the  season  of  its  annual 

Effect  of  the 

ebb  the  fertility  of  the    whole   land   affords  Syrian  fertility 

on  the  Nomad. 

a  certain  contrast  to  the  desert — how  much 
more  must  its  eastern  forests,  its  immense  wheat-fields, 
its  streams,  the  oases  round  its  perennial  fountains,  the 
pride  of  Jordan,  impress  the  immigrant  nomad.  If  he 
settles  down  among  them,  how  wholly  must  they  alter 
his  mode  of  life  ! 

The  fertility  of  the  Holy  Land  affected  immigrants  from 
the  desert,  among  whom  Israel  were  the  chief,  in  two  ways. 
It  meant  to  them  at  once  an  ascent  in  civilisation  and  a 
fall  in  religion. 

I.  It  meant  a  rise  in  civilisation.  To  pass  from  thcj 
desert  into  Syria  is  to  leave  the  habits  of  the  nomadic  life 
for  those  of  the  agricultural.  The  process  may  ^  ^j.^  j,^ 
be  gradual,  and  generally  has  been  so,  but  the  civilisation. 
end  is  inevitable.  Immigrant  tribes,  with  their  herds  and 
tents,  may  roam  even  the  Syrian  fields  for  generations, 
but  at  last  they  settle  down  in  villages  and  townships. 
The  process  can  be  illustrated  all  down  the  history  of 
Syria  :  it  can  be  seen  at  work  to-day.  Israel  also  passed 
through  it,  and  the  passage  made  them  a  nation.  From  a 
series  of  loosely-connected  pastoral  clans,  they  became  a 
united  people,  with  a  definite  territory,  and  , 

■^  Israel  s  passage 

its  culture  as  the  means  of  their  life.     The  f'om  the 

nomadic  stage 

story  is  told  in  two  passages  of  such  great  to  the  agricui- 
beauty  that    I  translate  the  whole  of  them. 
The  first  is  from  the  Song  of  Moses,  and  the  other  from 
the  Blessing  of  the  Tribes — in  chapters  xxxii.  and  xxxiii. 
of  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy.     It  is   to  be  noticed   that 


86     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

neither  of  them  carries  the  origin  of  Israel  further  back  than 
the  desert.  Neither  of  them  even  hints  at  the  sojourn  of 
the  people  in  Egypt.  Israel  is  a  purely  desert  tribe,  who 
by  the  inspiration  of  Jehovah  are  stirred  up  to  leave  their 
desert  home,  and  settle  as  agriculturists  in  Palestine : 

Remember  the  days  of  old. 

Consider  the  years  of  generation  on  generation. 
Ask  thy  father  and  he  will  show  thee. 

Thine  elders  and  they  will  tell  thee. 
When  the  Highest  gave  nations  their  heritage. 

When  He  sundered  the  childrett  of  men. 
He  set  the  border  of  the  tribes^ 

By  the  number  of  the  children  of  Israel. 
For  the  portion  of  Jehovah  is  His  people, 

Jacob  the  tneasure  of  His  heritage. 
Hefou7idhim  in  a  land  of  the  desert, 

In  a  waste,  in  a  howling  wilderness. 
He  encompassed  him,  He  distinguished  him. 

He  watched  him  as  the  apple  of  His  eye. 
As  an  eagle  stirreth  his  nest, 

Fluttereth  over  his  youjig, 
Spreadeth  abroad  his  wittgs,  taketh  them, 

Beareth  the7n  up  on  his  pi?tions, 
Jehovah  alotie  led  him 

And  no  strange  god  was  with  him. 
He  made  him  to  ride  oft  the  Land^s  high  places, 

And  to  eat  of  the  growth  of  the  field. 
He  gave  him  to  suck  honey  from  the  cliff. 

And  oilfrojn  the  flinty  rock. 
Cream  of  kine  a7id  milk  of  sheep. 

With  lambs'  fat  and  raTns\ 
Breed  of  Bashan  and  he-goats. 

With  fat  of  the  kid?ieys  of  wheat; 
And  the  blood  of  the  grape  thou  drank  est  in  foam  ! 

How  could  the  passage  from  the  nomadic  life  to  the 
agricultural  be  more  vividly  expressed  than  by  this  figure 
of  a  brood  of  desert  birds  stirred  to  leave  their  nest  by  the 
father  bird  !     The  next  poem  is  full  of  the  same  ideas — 

^  Lit.,  peoples. 


The  Climate  and  Fertility  of  the  Land        87 

that  it  was  in  the  wilderness  Jehovah  met  the  people,  that 
their  separate  tribes  first  became  a  nation  by  their  settle- 
ment in  Canaan,  and  the  new  habits  which  its  fertility 
imposed  on  them  : 

JeJiovahfrom  Sinai  hath  come, 

And  risen  from  Seir  upon  them  ; 
He  shone  from  Monttt  Paran, 

Afid  broke fro7n  Meribah  of  Qadesh} 
From  the  South  "^  fire  .  .  .  to  them. 

Also  He  loved  His  people. 
All  His  saints  were  in  thy  hand  (?), 

They  pressed  to  thy  feet  (?), 
They  took  of  His  words. ^ 

Law  did  Moses  com7nand  us, 
A  Domain  had  the  congregation  of  Jacob, — 

So  he  became  king  i?i  Jeshuru?i, 
When  the  heads  of  the  people  were  gathered, 

When  the  tribes  of  Israel  were  one. 

There  is  none  like  the  God  of  Jeshurun, 

Riding  the  heavejis  to  thy  help. 

And  the  clouds  in  His  highness  ! 
A  refuge  is  the  everlastifig  God, 

Afid  beneath  are  the  arms  of  eternity. 
And  he  drove  from  before  thee  the  foe, 

And  he  said — Destroy  / 
So  Israel  dwelt  in  safety, 

Secluded  was  Jacob's  fou7it. 
In  a  land  of  corn  and  wine. 

Also  His  heavens  dropped  dew. 
Happy  thou,  Israel !     Who  is  like  unto  thee  f 

People  saved  by  Jehovah, 
The  shield  of  thy  help. 

Yea,  the  sword  of  thy  highness; 
And  thy  foes  shall  fawn  on  thee,"^ 

And  thou — on  their  heights  shalt  thou  march  / 

^  Text  slightly  altered  (partly  after  the  LXX.)  gives  this  true  parallel  to  the 
other  lines. 

-  Reading  very  corrupt.     I  suggest  the  south  as  a  parallel  to  the  other  lines. 

'  LXX.,  these  lines  are  very  uncertain. 

*  To  adopt  the  happy  translation  of  Mr.  Addis. 


88      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

2.  But  this  rise  from  the  nomadic  level  to  the  agricul- 
tural, which  the  passage  from  the  desert  into  Syria  implied, 
this  ascent  in  social  life,  meant  at  the  same  time  almost 
inevitably  a  descent  in  religion. 

It  is  very  intelligible.     The  creed  of  the  desert  nomad  is 

simple  and  austere — for  nature  about  him  is  monotonous, 

silent,  and  illiberal.     But  Syria  is  a  land  of 

Religious  con- 

bequences  of  the  lavish  gifts    and    oraclcs — where   woods  are 

fertility. 

full  of  mysterious  speech,  and  rivers  burst 
suddenly  from  the  ground,  where  the  freedom  of  nature 
excites,  and  seems  to  sanction,  the  passions  of  the  human 
body,  where  food  is  rich,  and  men  drink  wine.  The  spirit 
and  the  senses  are  equally  taken  by  surprise.  No  one  can 
tell  how  many  voices  a  tree  has  who  has  not  come  up  to 
it  from  the  silence  of  the  great  desert.  No  one  may 
imagine  how  '  possessed'  a  landscape  can  feel — as  if  singled 
out  and  endowed  by  some  divinity  for  his  own  domain 
and  residence — who  has  not,  across  the  forsaken  plateaus 
of  Moab  or  Anti-Lebanon,  fallen  upon  one  of  the  sudden 
Syrian  rivers,  with  its  wealth  of  water  and  of  verdure. 

But  with  the  awe  comes  the  sense  of  indulgence,  and 
the  starved  instincts  of  the  body  break  riotously  forth. 
It  is  said  that  Mohammed,  upon  one  of  his  journeys  out  of 
Central  Arabia,  was  taken  to  look  upon  Damascus.  He 
gazed,  but  turned  away,  and  would  not  enter  the  city. 
'  Man,'  he  said,  *  can  have  but  one  Paradise,  and  mine  is 
above.'  It  may  be  a  legend,  but  it  is  a  true  symbol  of  the 
effect  which  Syria  exercises  on  the  imagination  of  every 
nomad  who  crosses  her  border. 

All  this  is  said  to  have  happened  to  Israel  from  almost 
their  first  encampment  in  Canaan.  Israel  settled  in  Shittim, 
and  the  people  began  to  commit  whoredom  with  the  daughters 


The  Climate  and  Fertility  of  tJic  Land        89 

of  Moab  .  .  .  Israel  joined  himself  to  Baal-peor.  And 
still  more,  when  they  settled  on  the  west  of  the  Jordan 
among  the  Canaanites,  and  had  fully  adopted  the  life  of  the 
land,  did  they  lapse  into  polytheism,  and  the  Israel's  fail  into 
sensuous  Canaanite  ritual.  In  every  favoured  P°^y"ieism. 
spot  of  the  land  their  predecessors  had  felt  a  Ba'al,  a  Lord 
or  Possessor,  to  whom  the  place  was  Be'ulah,  subject  or 
married,  and  to  these  innumerable  Ba'alim  they  turned 
aside.  They  zvent  astray  on  every  high  hilt,  and  under 
every  green  tree}  .  .  .  they  did  according  to  all  the  abomina- 
tions of  the  nations  which  the  Lord  cast  out  before  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel?  The  poem  which  we  have  already  quoted 
directly  connects  this  lapse  into  idolatry  with  the  change 
from  the  nomadic  to  the  agricultural  life.  These  next 
lines  follow  on  immediately  to  the  lines  on  p.  86  : 

And  JeslairuJi  waxed  fat,  atid  struck  out 

— Thou  art  fat,  thou  art  thick,  thou  art  sleek  I — 
And  cast  off  the  God  that  had  made  him. 

And  despised  the  Rock  of  his  salvation. 
They  moved  him  to  jealousy  with  strange  gods. 

With  abominations  provoked  Him  to  anger. 
They  sacrificed  to  monsters  ufidivine, 

Gods  they  had  known  not. 
New  tilings,  lately  come  in, 

Their  fathers  never  had  them  in  awe. 
Of  the  Rock  that  bare  thee  thou  wast  unrnindful, 

And  forgattest  the  God  who  gave  thee  birth. 

All  this  makes  two  things  clear  to  us.  The  conception 
of  Israel's  early  history  which  prevails  in  Deuteronomy, 
viz.,  that  the  nation  suffered  a  declension  from  a  pure  and 
simple  estate  of  life  and  religion,  to  one  which  was  gross  and 

^  The  worship  of  the  host  of  heaven  did  not  become  general  in  Isrnel  till 
tlie  ninth  and  eighth  centuries. 

-  I  Kings  xiv.  23,  24.     Cf.   2  Kings  xvii.  9-12;  Hos.  ix.  10. 


90     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

sensuous,  from  the  worship  of  their  own  deity  to  the  wor- 
ship of  many  local  gods,  is  justified  in  the  main — I  do  not 
say  in  details,  but  in  the  main — by  the  geographical  data, 
and  by  what  we  know  to  have  been  the  influence  of  these 
at  all  periods  in  history.  And,  secondly,  this  survey  of  the 
fertility  of  Syria,  and  of  its  social  and  religious  influences, 
must  surely  have  made  very  clear  to  us  how 

The  marvel  of 

monotheism  in  Unlikely  a  soil  this  was  for  monotheism  to 
spring  from.  We  must  feel  that  it  has  brought 
out  into  relief  the  presence  and  the  power  of  those  spiritual 
forces,  which,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  nature,  did  create 
upon  Syria  the  monotheistic  creed  of  Israel. 


CHAPTER     IV 

THE    SCENERY    OF   THE    LAND 

AND  ITS  REFLECTION  IN  THE 

BIBLE 


91 


THE   SCENERY   OF    THE    LAND   AND    ITS 
REFLECTION    IN    THE   BIBLE 

IT  has  grown  the  fashion  to  despise  the  sccnci}-  of 
Palestine.  The  tourist,  easily  saddle-sore  and  miss- 
ing the  comforts  of  European  travel,  finds  the  picturesque 
landscape  deteriorate  almost  from  the  moment  P-^iestme. 
he  leaves  the  orange-groves  of  Jaffa  behind  him,  and 
arrives  in  the  north  with  a  disappointment  which  Lebanon 
itself  cannot  appease.  The  Plain  is  commonplace,  the 
glens  of  Samaria  only  *  pretty,'  but  the  Judaean  table-land 
revolting  in  its  stony  dryness,  and  the  surroundings  of  the 
Lake  of  Galilee  feverish  and  glaring.  Now  it  is  true  that 
the  greater  part  of  Palestine,  like  some  other  countries 
not  unknown  for  beauty,  requires  all  the  ornament  which 
cultivation  can  give  it,  and  it  has  been  deprived  of  this. 
The  land  has  been  stripped  and  starved,  its  bones  pro- 
trude, in  parts  it  is  very  bald — a  carcase  of  a  land,  if  you 
like,  from  some  points  of  view,  and  especially  when  the 
clouds  lower,  or  the  sirocco  throws  dust  across  the  sun. 
Yet,  even  as  it  lies  to-day,  there  are,  in  the  Holy  Land, 
some  prospects  as  bold  and  rich  as  any  you  will  see  in 
countries  famed  for  their  picturesqueness.  There  is  the 
coast-line  from  the  headland  of  Carmel — northwards  the 
Gulf  of  Haifa,  with  its  yellow  sands  and  palms,  across 
them  brown,  crumbling  Acre,  and  in  the  haze  the  white 


94      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Ladder  of  Tyre :  southwards  Sharon  with  her  scattered 
forest,  her  coast  of  sand  and  grass,  and  the  haggard  ruins 
of  Athlit — last  foothold  of  the  Crusaders:  westwards  the 
green  sea  and  the  wonderful  shadows  of  the  clouds  upon 
it — grey  when  you  look  at  them  with  your  face  to  the 
sun,  but,  with  the  sun  behind  you,  purple,  and  more  like 
Homer's  '  wine-coloured '  water  than  anything  I  have 
seen  on  the  Mediterranean.  There  is  the  excellency  of 
Carm el  itseU :  wheat-fields  climbing  from  Esdraelon  to  ths 
first  bare  rocks,  then  thick  bush  and  scrub,  young  ilex, 
wild  olives  and  pines,  with  undergrowth  of  large  purple 
thistles,  mallows  with  blossoms  like  pelargoniums,  stocks 
of  hollyhock,  golden  broom,  honeysuckle  and  convolvulus 
— then,  between  the  shoulders  of  the  mountain,  olive- 
groves,  their  dull  green  mass  banked  by  the  lighter  forest 
trees,  and  on  the  flanks  the  broad  lawns,  where  in  the 
shadow  of  great  oaks  you  look  far  out  to  sea.  There  is 
the  Lake  of  Galilee  as  you  see  it  from  Gadara,  with  the 
hills  of  Naphtali  above  it,  and  Hermon  filling  all  the 
north.  There  is  the  perspective  of  the  Jordan  Valley  as 
you  look  up  from  over  Jericho,  between  the  bare  ranges 
of  Gilead  and  Ephraim,  with  the  winding  ribbon  of  the 
river's  jungle,  and  the  top  of  Hermon  like  a  white  cloud 
in  the  infinite  distance.  There  is  the  forest  of  Gilead, 
where  you  ride,  two  thousand  feet  high,  under  the  boughs 
of  great  trees  creaking  and  rustling  in  the  wind,  with  all 
Western  Palestine  before  you.  There  is  the  moonlight 
view  out  of  the  bush  on  the  northern  flank  of  Tabor,  the 
leap  of  the  sun  over  the  edge  of  Bashan,  summer  morn- 
ing in  the  Shephelah,  and  sunset  over  the  Mediterranean, 
when  you  see  it  from  the  gateway  of  the  ruins  on  Samaria 
down  the  glistening  Vale  of  Barley.     Even  in  the  barest 


The  Scenery  of  the  Land  95 

provinces  you  get  many  a  little  picture  that  lives  with  you 
for  life  —  a  chocolate-coloured  bank  with  red  poppies 
against  the  green  of  the  prickly  pear  hedge  above  it,  and 
a  yellow  lizard  darting  across;  a  river-bed  of  pink 
oleanders  flush  with  the  plain  ;  a  gorge  in  Judaea,  where 
you  look  up  between  limestone  walls  picked  out  with 
tufts  of  grass  and  black-and-tan  goats  cropping  at  them, 
the  deep  blue  sky  over  all,  and,  on  the  edge  of  the  only 
shadow,  a  well,  a  trough,  and  a  solitary  herdsman. 

And  then  there  are  those  prospects  in  which  no  other 
country  can  match  Palestine,  for  no  other  has  a  valley 
like  the  Ghor,  or  a  desert  like  that  which  falls  from 
Judaea  to  the  Dead  Sea.^  There  is  the  view  from  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  down  twenty  miles  of  desert  hill-tops  to 
the  deep  blue  waters,  with  the  wall  of  Moab  glowing  on 
the  further  side  like  burnished  copper,  and  staining  the 
blue  sea  red  with  its  light.  There  is  the  view  of  the  Dead 
Sea  through  the  hazy  afternoon,  when  across  the  yellow 
foreground  of  Jeshimon  the  white  Lisan  rises  like  a  pack 
of  Greenland  ice  from  the  blue  waters,  and  beyond  it  the 
Moab  range,  misty,  silent,  and  weird.  There  are  the 
precipices  of  Masada  and  Engedi  sheer  from  the  salt 
coast.  And,  above  all,  there  is  the  view  from  Engedi 
under  the  full  moon,  when  the  sea  is  bridged  with  gold, 
and  the  eastern  mountains  are  black  with  a  border  of 
opal. 

But,  whether  there  be  beauty  or  not,  there  is  always  on 
all  the  heights  that  sense  of  space  and  distance  which 
comes  from  Palestine's  high  position  between  the  great 
desert  and  the  great  sea. 

^  De  Saulcy  calls  the  Dead  Sea,  '  le  lac  le  plus  imposant  et  le  plus  beau 
qui  existe  sur  la  terre.'  —  Voyage  aiitotir  de  la  Aler  Morte,  i.  154. 


96      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Of  all  this,  such  use  was  made  by  Israel  as  served  the 
expression  of  her  high  ideals,  or  was  necessary  in  the 
description  of  her  warfare.  Israel  was  a  nation  of  prophets 
and  warriors.  But  prophets,  like  lovers,  offer  you  no 
more  reflection  of  nature  than  as  she  sympathises  with 
their  passion  ;  nor  warriors,  except  as  they  wait 

Its  reflection 

in  Israel's        impatiently  for  her  omens,  or  are  excited  by 

war-songs.         ...  ,  .  ,     . 

her  freshness  and  motion,  or  lay  down  their 
tactics  by  her  contours.  Let  it  be  when  thou  Jiearest  the 
sound  of  a  going  in  the  tops  of  the  mulberry  trees,  that  then 
thou  bestir  thyself,  for  then  shall  Jehovah  have  gone  out 
before  thee  to  smite  the  host  of  the  Philistines} 

The  torrent  of  Kis/ion  swept  tJieni  away, 
That  torrent  of  spates,  torrent  Kisho7t} 

My  God,  make  them  like  a  whirl  of  dust. 

Like  the  stubble  before  the  wind; 

As  afire  btimeth  a  wood 

And  as  flame  setteth  the  mountains  afire? 

And  I  said.  Oh  t/iat  I  had  wings  like  a  dove, 

I  would  fly  away  and  be  at  rest  / 

I  would  hasten  my  escape 

From  the  windy  storm  and  tempest} 

The  God  of  my  rockj  in  Him  will  I  trust: 
My  shield,  and  the  hor?t  of  my  salvation, 
My  high  tower  and  iny  refuge. 
He  matcheth  niy  feet  to  hinds^  feet  j 
He  setteth  me  upon  my  higJi  places. 
Thou  hast  enlarged  my  steps  render  me; 
So  that  7ny  ankles  swerved  7iot.^ 

Of  the  brook  shall  he  drink  by  the  way: 
Therefore  shall  he  lift  up  the  head. " 

^  I  Chron.  xiv.  15.  ^  Judges  v.  21.  ^  Ps.  Ixxxiii.  13,  14. 

*  Ps.  Iv.  6-8.  '^  2  Sam.  .\xii.  3,  34,  37.  ®  Ps.  ex.  7. 


The  Scenery  of  the  Land  97 

The  gazelle,  Israel,  is  slain  on  thy  heights, 
How  fallen  arc  the  heroes  f^ 

When  the  Almighty  scattered  kings  on  her. 
It  was  as  when  it  snoweth  on  Sahnon.- 

How  vividly  do  these  cries  from  Israel's  mountain-war 
bring  before  us  all  that  thirsty,  broken  land  of  crags  and 
shelves,  moors  and  gullies,  with  its  mire  and  its  rock,  its 
few  summer  brooks,  its  winter  spates  and  heavy  snows  ;  the 
rustling  of  its  woods,  its  gusts  of  wind,  and  its  bush  fires  ; 
its  startled  birds,  when  the  sudden  storms  from  the  sea 
sweep  up  the  gorges,  and  its  glimpses  of  deer,  poised  for 
a  moment  on  the  high  sky-line  of  the  hills.  The  battle- 
fields, too,  are  always  accurately  described — 

Battle-fields. 

the  features  of  the  Vale  of  tlah,  of  Michmash, 
of  Jezreel,  and  of  Jeshimon  can  be  recognised  to-day  from 
the  stories  of  David  and  Goliath,  of  Jonathan  and  the 
Philistine  host,  of  Saul's  defeat  and  Gideon's  victory,  and 
Saul's  pursuit  of  David.^ 

The  little  details,  which  thus  catch  a  soldier's  ear  and 
eye,  are  of  course  not  so  frequent  with  the  prophets  as  the 
long  lines  of  the  land,  and  its  greater  natural  phenomena. 

He  that  sitteth  on  the  circle  of  the  earth, 
And  the  inhabitants  thereof  are  as  grasshoppers  ; 
That  stretcheth  the  heavefts  as  a  curtain. 
And spreadeth  them  out  as  a  tent  to  diuell  in.* 

Men  who  looked  at  life  under  that  lofty  imagination  did 

^  2  Sam.  i.  19.  2  Ps.  Ixviii.  14. 

8  The  most  careful  study  of  these  battle-fields  is  that  given  by  Principal  Miller 
in  The  Least  of  all  Lattds,  and  accurate  plans  accompany  the  vivid  descrip- 
tions. See  also  Major  Conder's  identification  of  the  scene  of  the  story  of 
David  and  Goliath,  and  his  description  of  Mount  Hachilah  in  Jeshimon. — 
7'ent  Work,  pp.  277  and  244.  ••  Isaiah  xl.  22. 

G 


98      The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

not  notice  closely  the  details  of  their  country's  scenery. 
What   infected   them  was   the  sense  of  space   and    dis- 
tance, the  stupendous  contrasts  of  desert  and 

The  Scenery      .       . , .  .    ,  •  1       1 

in  the  fertility,  the  hard,  straight  coast  with  the  sea 

^op  e  s-  breaking  into  foam,  the  swift  sunrise,  the 
thunderstorms  sweeping  the  length  of  the  land,  and  the 
earthquakes.  For  these  were  symbols  of  the  great  pro- 
phetic themes :  the  abiding  justice  and  mercy  of  God, 
the  steadfastness  of  His  providence,  the  nearness  of  His 
judgments  to  life,  which  lies  between  His  judgments  as  the 
land  between  the  Desert  and  the  Great  Deep ;  His  power 
to  bring  up  life  upon  His  people  as  spring  rushes  up 
on  the  wilderness  ;  His  awful  last  judgment,  like  morn- 
ing scattered  on  the  moimtains,  when  the  dawn  is  crushed 
upon  the  land  between  the  hills  and  the  heavy  clouds, 
and  the  lurid  light  is  spilt  like  the  wine-press  of  the 
wrath  of  God.  And  if  those  great  outlines  are  touched 
here  and  there  with  flowers,  or  a  mist,  or  a  bird's  nest, 
or  a  passing  thistledown,  or  a  bit  of  meadow,  or  a  quiet 
pool,  or  an  olive-tree  in  the  sunshine,  it  is  to  illustrate 
human  beauty,  which  comes  upon  the  earth  as  fair  as  her 
wild-flowers,  and  as  quickly  passeth  away,  which  is  like 
a  vapour  that  appeareth  for  a  moment  on  the  hillside 
and  then  vanisheth  ;  or  it  is  to  symbolise  God's  provision 
of  peace  to  His  people  in  corners  and  nooks  of  this 
fiercely-swept  life  of  ours  : 

He  maketh  me  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures : 
He  leadeth  me  beside  the  still  waters.  ^ 

They  looked  unto  Mm.,  and  were  lightefiedj  - 

where  the  effect  is  of  liquid  light,  when  the  sun  breaks 

'  Psahii  xxiii.  2.  -  Psalm  xxxiv.  5,  Massoretic  text. 


The  Scenery  of  the  Land  99 

through  the  clouds,  rippling  across  a  wood  or  a  troubled 
piece  of  water. 

But  I  am  like  a  green  olive-tree  in  the  house  of  God.  ^ 

I  tail  I  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel: 

He  shall  blossom  as  the  lily,  and  strike  foi'th  his  roots  like  Lebanon : 

His  bra?!ches  shall  spread. 

His  beauty  shall  be  as  the  olive-tree,  and  his  smell  as  Lebanon.- 

Bring  up  man  and  the  animals  on  the  scene,  and 
you  see  those  landscapes  described  by  Old  Testament 
writers  exactly  as  you  will  see  them  to-day — the  valleys 
covered  with  corn,  the  pastures  above  clothed  with 
flocks,  shepherds  and  husbandmen  calling  to  each  other 
through  the  morning  air,  the  narrow  high-banked  hill- 
roads  brimming  with  sheep,  the  long  and  stately  camel 
trains,  the  herds  of  wild  cattle, — biills  of  Bashaji  have  com- 
passed me  about.  You  see  the  villages  by  day,  with  the 
children  coming  forth  to  meet  the  traveller ;  ^  the  villages 
by  night,  without  a  light,  when  you  stumble  on  them  in 
the  darkness,  and  all  the  dogs  begin  barking, — at  evening 
they  return  and  7nake  a  noise  like  a  dog,  and  go  round  about 
the  city.     You  see  night. 

Wherein  all  the  beasts  of  the  forest  do  creep  forth. 

The  sun  ariseth,  they  shrink  together, 
Atid  lay  them  down  in  their  dens. 
Man  goeth  forth  unto  his  work. 
And  to  his  labour  till  the  evening. 

You  see  those  details  which  are  so  characteristic  of  every 
Eastern  landscape,  the  chaff  and  rolling  thorns  blown  be- 
fore the  wind,  the  dirt  cast  out  on  the  streets  ;   the  broken 
vessel  by  the  well ;  the  forsaken  house  ;  the  dusty  grave. 
Let  us  pay  attention  to  all  these,  and  we  shall  surely 

1  Psalm  lii.  8.  -  Hosea  xiv.  5,  6.  •'2  Kings  vi.j  Mark  x.  13. 


loo   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

feel  ourselves  in  the  atmosphere  and  scenery  in  which 
David  fought,  and  Elisha  went  to  and  fro,  and  Malachi 
saw  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arise  with  healing  in  his 
wings. 

There  are  three  poems  in  the  Old  Testament  which  give 
a  more  or  less  comprehensive  picture  of  the  scenery  of 
Palestine  :  the  Twenty-Ninth  Psalm,  the  Song  of  Solomon, 
and  the  Hundred  and  Fourth  Psalm. 

The  Twenty-Ninth  Psalm  describes  a  thunderstorm 
travelling  the  whole  length  of  the  land,  rattling  and  strip- 
ping  it :   so  that   you   see   its   chief  features 

Ps9.1ni  XXIX. 

sweeping  before  you  on  the  storm.  Enough 
to  give  the  translation  of  verses  3-9,  which  contain 
the  description.     It  begins  among  the  thunder-clouds  : 

The  voice  ofJeJiovaJi  is  upon  the  waters. 
The  God  of  Glory  thu7iderethj 
Jehovah  is  tipon  great  waters. 
The  voice  of  Jehovah  with  power, 
The  voice  of  Jehovah  with  majesty. 
The  voice  of  Jehovah  breaketh  the  cedars; 
Yea,  Jehovah  breaketh  the  cedars  of  Lebanon. 
He  maketh  them  also  to  skip  like  a  calfj 
Lebanon  and  Sirion  like  a  wild  ox  in  his  youth. 
The  voice  of  Jehovah  heweth  outjlames  of  fire. 
The  voice  of  Jehovah  maketh  the  wilderness  whirl j 
Jehovah  maketh  the  wilderness  of  Kadesh  to  whirl. 
The  voice  of  Jehovah  maketh  the  hinds  to  travail. 
And  strippeth  the  forests  j 
In  His  palace  every  one  sayeth,  Clory.^ 

Here  all  the  scenery  appears  to  us,  as  in  flashes  of  light- 
ning, from  the  storm-clouds  that  break  on  the  peaks  of 
Lebanon,  down  Lebanon's  flanks  to  the  lower  forests 
where  the  deer  lie,  and  so  out  upon  the  desert.     In  the 

^  Psalm  xxix.  5-9. 


The  Sceftery  of  the  Land  loi 

last  verse  there  is  a  wonderful  contrast  between  the  agita- 
tion of  the  earth  at  one  end  of  the  storm,  and  the  glory 
of  the  heavenly  temple  at  the  other.^ 

In  the  Song  of  Songs  we  have  a  very  different  aspect  of 
the  country  :  springtime  among  the  vineyards      g      ^f 
and  villages  of  North  Israel,  where  the  poem      Songs, 
was  certainly  composed.     The  date  does  not  matter  for 
our  purpose  : 

'  For^  see,  the  ivinier  has  passed, 
The  rain  is  over  and  gone; 
The  flowers  appear  in  the  land; 
The  time  of  singing  is  come, 

A7id  the  turtle  dove's  imirmur  is  heard  in  our  land. 
The  flg-tree  is  reddenitig  her  figs, 
And  blossoming  vines  give  forth  their  scent.'  ^ 

'  Come,  my  beloved,  let  us  forth  to  the  field. 
Let  us  lodge  in  the  villages. 
Let  us  early  to  the  vineyards, 
Let  us  see  if  the  vine  flourish, 
If  the  vine  blossom  have  opened, 
The  pomegranates  bud. 
There  will  I  give  thee  my  loves. 
The  mandrakes  are  fragrant. 
And  about  our  gates  are  all  rare  fruits, — 
/  have  stored  them  for  thee,  my  beloved.^ 

Lebanon  is  in  sight  and  Hermon  : 

*  Come  with  me  from  Lebanon, 
My  bride,  with  me  from  Lebanon, 
Look  from  the  top  of  Amana, 
From  the  top  of  Shenir  and  of  Hermon.'' 

And   the  bracing   air  from  snow-fields   and   pine-forests 

wafts  down 

The  scent  of  Lebanon. 

There  are  the  shepherds'  black  tents,  the  flocks  of  goats 

^  I  feel  no  reason  to  depart  in  this  verse  from  the  Massoretic  text.    But  see 
Cheyne  in  loco,  who  reads  oaks  for  hinds.  ^  Song  ii.  11-13  ;  vii.  12. 


I02    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

that  swarm  from  Mount  Gilead,  the  sheep  that  come  up 
from  the  shearing  and  washing,  and  the  strange  pomp 
which  now  and  then  passes  by  the  high  road  across 
North  Israel  from  Egypt  to  Damascus — royal  litters, 
chariots,  and  regiments  with  banners,  heralded  by  clouds 
of  dust. 

'  /  have  like?ied  thee,  O  my  love, 
To  a  horse  atnong  the  chariots  of  Pharaoh.'  ^ 

'  What  is  this  comi7ig  up  from  the  wilderness 
Like  pillars  of  smoke  ? 
Behold!  it  is  Solomon's  palanquin  j 
Threescore  mighty  meji  are  around  it, 
Of  the  Diighty  of  Israel j 
All  of  them  grasping  the  sword, 
Experts  in  war. 

Every  man  with  sword  on  his  thigh. 
Against  the  alarms  of  the  night.^  ^ 

'  IVho  is  she  that  looketh  forth  like  the  dawn, 

Fair  as  the  moon,  pure  as  the  sun. 

Glorious  as  banttered  hosts  ? '  ^ 
'  /  went  dow7t  ittto  the  garden  of  nuts, 

To  see  the  fruits  of  the  valley  j 

To  see  whether  the  viiie  flourished. 

The  pomegra7tates  budded. 

Or  ever  I  knew. 

My  soul  had  brought  me  on  the  chariots  of  my  willing  people.'  '• 

The  text  of  the  last  verse  is  evidently  corrupt,  but  the 
sense  is  clear.  The  country  girl  has  gone  down  into 
the  valley,  where  she  thinks  herself  alone  with  the  nut- 
trees  and  pomegranates,  when  suddenly  a  military  troop, 
marching  by  the  valley  road,  surprise  her.  We  shall  see, 
when  we  come  to  Galilee,  that  the  character  of  that  pro- 
vince Is  to  be  a  garden,  crossed  by  many  of  the  world's 

^  Song  i.  9.  -  iii.  6-8.  -  Imposing.  ■*  vi.  10-12. 


The  Scenery  of  the  Land  103 

high-roads.  Nothing  could  better  illustrate  this  character 
than  the  procession  and  pomp,  the  chariots  and  banners, 
which  break  through  the  rural  scenery  of  the  Song  of 
Songs. 

We  have  no  space  here  for  the  Hundred  and  Fourth 
Psalm,  and  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  Revised  Version 
of  it.      He  will    find  a   more   comprehensive 

Psalm  civ. 

view  of  the   Holy  Land    than    in    any  other 
Scripture,  for  it  embraces  both  atmosphere  and  scenery, — 
wind,  water   and   light,  summer   and  winter,    mountain, 
valley  and  sea,  man  and  the  wild  beasts. 

Before  we  pass  from  the  scenery,  it  may  be  well  to 
draw  the  reader's  attention  to  one  feature  of  its  descrip- 
tion in  the  Old  Testament.  By  numerous  little  tokens, 
we  feel  that  this  is  scenery  described  by  Highlanders : 
by  men  who,  for  the  most  part,  looked  down  upon  their 
prospects  and  painted  their  scenes  from  above.  Their 
usual  word  for  valley  is  depth'^ — something  below  them  ; 
for  terror  and  destruction  some  of  their  com- 

The  Bible 

monest  names  mean  ongmally  abyssr  God  s  a  Highland 
unfathomable  judgments  are  depths,  for  the 
narrow  platform  of  their  life  fell  eastward  to  an  invisible 
depth  ;  their  figure  for  salvation  and  freedom  is  a  wide  or 
a  large  place?  Their  stage  slopes  away  from  them,  every 
apparition  on  it  is  described  as  coming  up.  And  there  is 
that  singular  sense,  which  I  do  not  think  appears  in  any 
other  literature,  but  which  pervades  the  Old  Testament, 
of  seeing  mountain-tops  from  above.  Israel  treadeth  upon 
his  high  places,  as  if  mountain-tops  were  a  common 
road  ;  and  Jehovah  marcJicth  upon  His  high  places,  as  if 
it  were  a  usual  thing  to  see  clouds  below,  and  yet 
'  \»::iV-  ^  y^3  nns  etc.  » 31-,-,^. 


I04   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

on  the  tops  of  hills.  Joel  looks  from  his  high  station 
eastward  over  the  tops  of  the  mountains  that  sink  to  the 
Dead  Sea,  and  speaks  of  morn  above  the  mowitains  broken 
and  scattered  upon  them  by  the  heavy  thunder-clouds. 
And,  finally,  we  owe  to  the  high  station  of  Israel,  those 
long  approaches  and  very  distant  prospects  both  of  war 
and  peace :  the  trails  of  armies  across  the  plains  in  fire 
and  smoke,  the  land  spreading  very  far  forth,  and,  though 
Israel  was  no  maritime  people,  the  wonderful  visions  of 
the  coast  and  the  sea. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  LAND  AND  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH 


THE  LAND  AND  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH 

THESE  questions  have,  no  doubt,  already  suggested 
themselves  to  the  reader,  and  will  do  so  again  and 
again  as  he  passes  through  the  land — How  far  does  the 
geography  of  Palestine  bear  witness  to  the  truth  and 
authenticity  of  the  different  books  of  the  Bible  ?  How  far 
does  a  knowledge  of  the  land  assist  our  faith  as  Chris- 
tians in  the  Word  of  God  and  Jesus  Christ  His  Son  ? 
It  may  be  well  for  us,  before  we  go  through  the  land,  to 
have  at  least  the  possibilities  of  its  contribution  to  these 
arguments  accurately  defined,  were  it  for  no  other  reason 
than  that  it  is  natural  to  expect  too  much,  and  that  a 
large  portion  of  the  religious  public,  and  of  writers  for 
them,  habitually  exaggerate  the  evidential  value  of  the 
geography  and  archaeology  of  Palestine,  and  by  emphasis- 
ing what  is  irrelevant,  especially  in  details,  miss  altogether 
the  grand,  essential  contents  of  the  Land's  testimony  to 
the  divine  origin  of  our  religion. 

We  have  seen  how  freshly  the  poetry  and  narrative  of 
the  Bible  reflect  the  natural  features  of  Palestine  both  in 
outline  and  in  detail.  Every  visitor  to  the  land  has  felt  this. 
Napoleon  himself  may  be  quoted :  '  When  camping  on 
the  ruins  of  those  ancient  towns,  they  read  aloud  Scripture 
every  evening  in  the  tent  of  the  General-in-Chief  The 
analogy  and  the  truth  of  the  descriptions  were  striking : 

107 


io8    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

they  still  fit  this  country  after   so  many  centuries  and 

changes.'  ^     This  is  not  more  than  the  truth,  yet  it  does 

not  carry  us  very  far.      That   a   story  accu- 

Geographical  ,  n  -i 

accuracy  of  ratcly  reflects  geography  does  not  necessarily 
crip  ure  j^g^j^  4^^^  \^  jg  g,  real  transcript  of  history — 
else  were  the  Book  of  Judith  the  truest  man  ever  wrote, 
instead  of  being  what  it  is,  a  pretty  piece  of  fiction. 
Many  legends  are  wonderful  photographs  of  scenery. 
And,  therefore,  let  us  at  once  admit  that,  while  we  may 
have  other  reasons  for  the  historical  truth  of  the  patriarchal 
narratives,  we  cannot  prove  this  on  the  ground  that  their 
itineraries  and  place-names  are  correct.  Or,  again,  that 
the  Book  of  Joshua,  in  marking  tribal  boundaries,  gives  us 
a  detailed  list  of  towns,  the  most  of  which  we  are  able  to 
identify,  does  not  prove  anything  about   the 

not  proof  of  ,         ,  •         ^    i  i  •  ^      c     ^     c 

historical  date  or  authorship  of  these  lists,  nor  the  tact  oi 
accuracy.  ^^  deliberate  partition  of  the  land  in  Joshua's 
time.  Again,  that  Israel's  conquests  under  Moses  on 
the  east  of  the  Jordan  went  so  far  north  as  described,  is  not 
proved  by  the  discovery  in  these  days  of  the  various 
towns  mentioned.  In  each  of  these  cases,  all  that  is  proved 
is  that  the  narrative  was  written  in  the  land  by  some  one 
who  knew  the  land,  and  this  has  never  been  called  in 
question.  The  date,  the  accuracy  of  the  narrative,  will 
have  to  be  discussed  on  other  grounds.  All  that  geography 
can  do  is  to  show  whether  or  not  the  situations  were  pos- 
sible at  the  time  to  which  they  are  assigned,  and  even 
this  is  a  task  often  beyond  her  resources. 

^  '  En  campant  sur  les  ruines  de  ces  anciennes  villes,  on  lisait  tous  les  soirs 
I'Ecriture  Sainte  a  haute  voix  sous  la  tente  du  general  en  chef.  L'analogie 
et  la  verite  des  descriptions  etaient  frappantes  ;  elles  conviennent  encore  a 
ce  pays  apres  tant  de  siecles  et  de  vicissitudes.' — Campagnes  d^Agypte  et  de 
Syrie,  dictSes par  Napoleon  lui-meme,  vol.  ii.  (see  p.  19  of  this  vol.). 


The  Land  and  Qtiestions  of  Faith  109 

At  the  same  time,  there  are  in  the  Old  Testament 
pictures  of  landscape,  and  especially  descriptions  of  the 
geographical  relations  of  Israel,  which  we  cannot  help 
feeling  as  testimonies  of  the  truth  of  the  narratives  in 
which  they  occur.  If,  for  instance,  you  can  to-day  follow 
the  description  of  a  battle  by  the  contours,  features,  and 
place-names  of  the  landscape  to  which  it  is  assigned,  that 
surely   is  a   strong,  though  not,  of  course,  a 

-       ,  -    ,  ,  1  .      .         .  -         Battle-fields. 

final,  proof  that  such  a  description  is  true.     In 
this  connection  one  thinks  especially  of  the  battles  of  the 
Vale  of  Elah,  Michmash,  and  Jezreel.     And  certainly  it  is 
striking  that  in  none  of  the  narratives  of  these  is  there 
any  geographical  impossibility.     Again,  nothing  that  the 
Pentateuch  tells  us  about   the   early  movements  of  the 
Philistines  and  the  Ilittites  disagrees  with  the       ^^. 
other  evidence  we  possess  from  geography  and   "I'grations. 
archaeology ;  ^  while   Israel's  relations  to  the  Philistines, 
in  the  record  of  the  Judges  and  early  Kings,  contrasted 
with    her   relations  to  the  same  people  in  the  prophetic 
period,  is  in  exact  accordance  with  the  data  of  the  his- 
torical geography  of  Syria.^ 

As  to  questions  of  authorship,  the  evidence  of  geography 
mainly  comes  in  support  of  a  decision  already  settled  by 
other  proofs.  In  this  matter  one  thinks  especially  of  the 
accurate  pictures  of  the  surroundings  of  Jerusalem  given 
in  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  both  of  them 
her  citizens,  contrasted  with  the  very  different 

1-1  n        ■  1  ,.  Geography 

geographical    reflection    on    the   earlier    pro-     andamhen- 
phecies  of  Ezekiel,  or  the  second  half  of  the     "*^"^' 
Book  of  Isaiah.     Geography,  too,  assists  us  in  the  analysis 
of  the  composite  books  of  the  Old  Testament  into  their 

^  See  chapter  on  the  Philistines,  p.  172.  -  Ibid.  p.  178. 


1  lo   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

various  documents,  for  in  the  Pentateuch,  for  instance, 
each  document  has  often  its  own  name  for  the  same 
locality,  and  as  has  just  been  said,  the  geographical  reflec- 
tion on  the  first  half  of  the  Book  of  Isaiah  is  very  different 
from  that  on  the  second  half  ^  But  in  the  Old  Testament 
geography  has  little  contribution  to  make  to  any  question 
of  authenticity,  for,  with  the  exceptions  stated  above,  the 
whole  of  the  Old  Testament  is  admitted  to  have  been 
written  by  natives  of  Palestine,  who  were  familiar  with 
their  land. 

It  is  different,  however,  with  the  New  Testament,  where 
authorship  outside  Palestine  is  sometimes  a  serious  possi- 
bility. Here  questions  of  authenticity  are  closely  bound 
up  with  those  of  geographical  accuracy.  Take  the  case 
of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  It  has  been  held  that  the 
writer  could  not  have  been  a  native  of  Palestine,  because 
of  certain  errors  which  are  alleged  to  occur  in  his  descrip- 
tion of  places.  I  have  shown,  in  a  chapter  on  the  Ques- 
tion of  Sychar,  that  this  opinion  finds  no  support  in  the 
passage  most  loudly  quoted  in  its  defence.^  And,  again, 
the  silence  of  the  synoptic  Gospels  concerning  cities  on 
the  Lake  of  Galilee,  like  Tiberias  and  Taricheae,  which 
became  known  all  over  the  Roman  world  in  the  next 
generation,  and  their  mention  of  places  not  so  known,  has 
a  certain  weight  in  the  argument  for  the  early  date  of 
the  Gospels,  and  for  the  authorship  of  these  by  contem- 
poraries of  Christ's  ministry.^ 

But  if  on  all  such  questions  of  date,  authorship,  and 
accuracy  of  historical  detail,  we  must  be  content  to  admit 

^  Duhm  thinks  he  can  make  out  that  part  of  Isaiah,  xl.-Ixvi.,  was  composed 
in  Lebanon.  ^  Ch.  xviii. 

^  See  chapter  on  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  ch.  xxi. 


The  Laiid  and  Questions  of  Faith  1 1 1 

that  geography  has  not  much  more  to  contribute  than  a 
proof  of  the  possibility  of  certain  solutions,  it  is  very  dif- 
ferent when  we  rise  to  the  higher  matters  of  Yi\ghGx 
the  religion  of  Israel,  to  the  story  of  its  origin  questions, 
and  development,  to  the  appearance  of  monotheism,  and 
to  the  question  of  the  supernatural.  On  these  the  testi- 
mony of  the  historical  geography  of  the  Holy  Land  is 
high  and  clear. 

For  instance,  to  whatever  date  we  assign  the  Book 
of  Deuteronomy,  no  one  who  knows  the  physical  consti- 
tution of  Palestine,  and    her  relation  to  the 

Deuteronomy 

great  desert,  can  fail  to  feel  the  essential  and  the 
truthfulness  of  the  conception,  which  rules  in 
that  book,  of  Israel's  entrance  into  the  land  as  at  once  a 
rise  in  civilisation  from  the  nomadic  to  the  agricultural 
stage  of  life,  and  a  fall  in  religion  from  a  faith  which  the 
desert  kept  simple  to  the  rank  and  sensuous  polytheism 
that  was  provoked  by  the  natural  variety  of  the  Paradise 
west  of  Jordan.^  Or  take  another  most  critical  stage  of 
Israel's  education  :  no  one  can  appreciate  the  prophets' 
magnificent  mastery  of  the  historical  forces  of  their  time, 
or  the  wisdom  of  their  advice  to  their  people,  who  has 
not  studied  the  relations  of  Syria  to  Egypt  and  Mesopo- 
tamia or  the  lines  across  her  of  the  campaigns  of  these 
powers. 

But  these  are  only  details  in  larger  phenomena.     In  the 
economy  of  human  progress  every  race  has  had  its  office 
to  fulfil,  and  the  Bible  has  claimed  for  Israel  The  training 
the  specialism  of  religion.     It  represents  Israel  °f  Israel. 
as  brought  by  God  to  the  Holy  Land — as  He  also  carried 
other  peoples  to  their  lands — for  the  threefold  purpose  of 

^  See  chapter  iii.,  especially  pp.  Sg,  90. 


1 1 2    The  Histo^dcal  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

being  preserved  through  all  the  changes  of  ancient  his- 
tory, of  being  educated  in  true  religion,  and  sent 
forth  to  the  world  as  apostles  and  examples.  But  how 
could  such  a  people  be  better  framed  than  by  selec- 
tion out  of  that  race  of  mankind  which  have  been  most 
distinguished  for  their  religious  temperament,  and  by 
settlement  on  a  land  both  near  to,  and  aloof  from,  the 
main  streams  of  human  life,  where  they  could  be  at  once 
spectators  of  history  and  yet  not  its  victims,  where  they 
could  at  once  enjoy  personal  communion  with  God  and 
yet  have  some  idea  also  of  His  providence  of  the  whole 
world  ;  where  they  could  at  once  gather  up  the  experi- 
ence of  the  ancient  world,  and  break  with  it  into  the 
modern  ?  There  is  no  land  which  is  at  once  so  much 
a  sanctuary  and  an  observatory  as  Palestine :  no  land 
which,  till  its  office  was  fulfilled,  was  so  swept  by  the 
great  forces  of  history,  and  was  yet  so  capable  of  pre- 
serving one  tribe  in  national  continuity  and  growth  :  one 
tribe  learning  and  suffering  and  rising  superior  to  the 
successive  problems  these  forces  presented  to  her,  till 
upon  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the  last  of  them  she 
launched  with  her  results  upon  the  world.  It  is  the 
privilege  of  the  student  of  the  historical  geography  of 
Palestine  to  follow  all  this  process  of  development  in 
detail.  If  a  man  can  believe  that  there  is  no  directing  hand 
behind  our  universe  and  the  history  of  our  race,  he  will,  of 
course,  say  that  all  this  is  the  result  of  chance.  But,  for 
most  of  us,  only  another  conclusion  is  possible.  It  may 
best  be  expressed  in  the  words  of  one  who  was  no  theo- 
logian but  a  geographer — perhaps  the  most  scientific 
observer  Palestine  has  ever  had.  Karl  Ritter  says  of 
Palestine  :  '  Nature  and  the  course  of  history  shows  that 


The  Lmid  and  Questions  of  FaitJi  1 1 3 

here,  from  the  beginning  onwards,  there  cannot  be  talk  of 

any  chance.'  ^ 

But  while  the  geography  of  the  Holy  Land  has  this 

positive  evidence  to  offer,  it  has  also  negative  evidence  to 

the  same  end.    The  physical  and  political  con- 
Geography 

ditions  of  Israel's  history  do  not  explain  all  the    and  moral 

forces. 

results.  Over  and  over  again  we  shall  see  the 
geography  of  the  land  forming  barriers  to  Israel's  growth,  by 
surmounting  which  the  moral  force  that  is  in  her  becomes 
conspicuous.  We  shall  often  be  tempted  to  imagine  that 
Israel's  geography,  physical  and  political,  is  the  cause  of 
her  religion  ;  but  as  often  we  shall  discover  that  it  is  only 
the  stage  on  which  a  spirit — that,  to  use  the  words  of  the 
prophets,  is  neither  in  her  mountains  nor  in  her  men — 
rises  superior  alike  to  the  aids  and  to  the  obstacles  which 
these  contribute.  This  is  especially  conspicuous  in  the 
case  of  Israel's  monotheism.  Monotheism  was  born  not, 
as  M.  Renan  says,  in  Arabia,  but   in    Syria. 

-   „       .  ,       ^     ,        Monotheism. 

And  the  more  we  know  of  Syria  and  of  the 
other  tribes  that  inhabited  her,  the  more  we  shall  be 
convinced  that  neither  she  nor  they  had  anything  to 
do  with  the  origin  of  Israel's  faith.  For  myself,  I  can 
only  say  that  all  I  have  seen  of  the  land,  and  read  of 
its  ancient  history,  drives  me  back  to  the  belief  that  the 
monotheism  which  appeared  upon  it  was  ultimately  due 
to  the  revelation  of  a  character  and  a  power  which  carried 
with  them  the  evidence  of  their  uniqueness  and  divine 
sovereignty. 

But  the  truth  and  love  of  God  have  come  to  us  in  their 

^  'Die  Natur  und  der  Ilergang  der  Geschichte  zeigt  uns  dass  hier  von 
Anfang  an  von  keiner  Zufalligkeit  die  Rede  sein  kann.' — K.  Riltcr,  Ein 
Blick  aiif  Paldstitia  u,  seine  christliche  Bevolkerutig. 

H 


114   ^-^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

highest  power  not  as  a  book,  even   though  that  be  the 
Bible,  nor  as  a  doctrine,  even  though  that  be  the  mono- 
The  incar-     theism  of  the  Bible,  with  all  its  intellectual  and 
nation.  moral  consequences,  but  as  a  Man,  a  native 

and  a  citizen  of  this  land  :  whose  education  was  its  history, 
whose  temptation  was  some  of  its  strongest  political  forces, 
who  overcame  by  loyalty  to  its  distinctive  gospel,^  who 
gathered  up  the  significance  of  its  history  into  Himself,  and 
whose  ministry  never  left  its  narrow  limits.  He  drew  His 
parables  from  the  fields  its  sunshine  lights,  and  from  all 
the  bustle  of  its  daily  life  ;  He  prayed  and  agonised  for  us 
through  its  quiet  night  scenes  ;  He  vindicated  His  mission 
to  mankind  in  conflict  with  its  authorities,  and  He  died  for 
the  world  on  one  of  its  common  places  of  execution.  For 
our  faith  in  the  Incarnation,  therefore,  a  study  of  the  his- 
torical geography  of  Palestine  is  a  necessary  discipline. 
Besides  helping  us  to  realise  the  long  preparation  of  his- 
tory, Jewish  and  Gentile,  for  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  God, 
a  vision  of  the  soil  and  climate  in  which  He  grew  up  and 
laboured  is  the  only  means  of  enforcing  the  reality  of  His 
manhood.  It  delivers  us,  on  the  one  hand,  from  those 
abstract  views  of  His  humanity  which  have  so  often  been 
the  error  and  curse  of  Christianity  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  from  what  is  to-day  a  more  present  danger — the 
interpretation  of  Christ  (prevalent  with  many  of  our 
preachers  to  the  times)  as  if  He  were  a  son  of  our  own 
generation. 

The  course  of  Divine  Providence  in  Syria  has  not  been 
one  of  mere  development  and  cultivation,  of  building  and 
planting.      It  has  been   full  also  of  rebuke  and  frustra- 
tion, of  rooting  up  and  tearing  down.      Judgment    has 
1  See  pp.  35-37. 


The  Land  and  Questions  of  Faith  1 15 

all  along  mingled  with  mercy.  Christ  Himself  did  not 
look  forward  to  the  course  of  the  history  of  the  kingdom 
which  he  founded  as  an  unchecked  advance  to  universal 
dominion.  He  took  anything  but  an  optimistic  view  of 
the  future  of  His  Church.  He  pictured  Himself  not 
only  as  her  King  and  Leader  to  successive  victories, 
but  as  her  Judge:  revisiting  her  suddenly,  and  finding 
her  asleep  ;  separating  within  her  the  wise  from  the 
foolish,  the  true  from  the  false,  the  pure  from  the  cor- 
rupt, and  punishing  her  with  sore  and  awful  calamities. 
Ought  we  to  look  for  these  visitations  only  at  the  end 
of  the  world  ?  Have  we  not  seen  them  already  fulfilled 
in  the  centuries  ?  Has  not  the  new  Israel  been  punished 
for  her  sin,  as  Israel  of  old  was,  by  the  historical  powers 
of  war,  defeat,  and  captivity  ? 

It  is  in  the  light  of  these  principles  of  Christ's  teach- 
ing that  we  are  to  estimate  the  mysterious  victory  of 
Mohammedanism  over  Christianity  on  the  Christianity 
very  theatre  of  our  Lord's  revelation.  The  ^"'^  ^^^'^"^• 
Christianity  of  Syria  fell  before  Islam,  because  it  was 
corrupt,  and  deserved  to  fall.  And  again,  in  attempting 
by  purely  human  means  to  regain  her  birthplace,  the 
Church  was  beaten  back  by  Islam,  because  she  was  divided, 
selfish,  and  worldly.  In  neither  of  these  cases  was  it 
a  true  Christianity  that  was  overthrown,  though  the  true 
Christianity  bears  to  this  day  the  reproach  and  the 
burden  of  the  results.  The  irony  of  the  Divine  Judg- 
ment is  clearly  seen  in  this,  that  it  was  on  the  very  land 
where  a  spiritual  monotheism  first  appeared  that  the 
Church  was  first  punished  for  her  idolatry  and  mate- 
rialism ;  that  it  was  in  sight  of  scenes  where  Christ 
taught    and    healed    and    went    about    doine    erood    with 


1 1 6    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

His  band  of  poor,  devoted  disciples,  that  the  envious, 
treacherous,  truculent  hosts  of  the  Cross  were  put  to 
sword  and  fire.  They  who  in  His  name  sought  a 
kingdom  of  this  world  by  worldly  means,  could  not  hope 
to  succeed  on  the  very  fields  where  He  had  put  such 
a  temptation  from  Him.  The  victory  of  Islam  over 
Christendom  is  no  more  an  obstacle  to  faith  than  the 
victory  of  Babylonia  over  Israel  upon  the  same  stage. 
My  threshing-floor,  said  God  of  these  mountains,  and  so 
they  proved  a  second  time.  Tjie  same  ethical  principles 
by  which  the  prophets  explain  the  overthrr>T,v  nf  T^rael 
account  for  the  defeat  of  Christianity^  If  the  latter  teach  us, 
as  the  former  taught  them,  the  folly  of  making  a  political 
kingdom  the  ambition  of  our  faith,  the  fatality  of  seeking 
to  build  the  Church  of  God  by  intrigue  and  the  sword,  if 
it  drive  us  inward  to  the  spiritual  essence  of  religion  and 
outward  to  the  Master's  own  work  of  teaching  and  healing, 
the  Mohammedan  victory  will  not  have  been  in  vain  any 
more  than  the  Babylonian.  Let  us  believe  that  what 
Christ  promised  to  judge  by  the  visitations  of  history  is 
not  the  World,  but  His  Church,  and  let  us  put  our  own 
house  in  order.  Then  the  reproach  that  rests  on  Palestine 
will  be  rolled  away. 


CHAPTER    VI 


THE    VIEW    FROM    MOUNT    EBAL 


117 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Maps  T.  and  III. 


THE  VIEW  FROM  MOUNT  EBAL 

IT  may  assist  the  reader  to  grasp  the  various  features  of 
the  Holy  Land,  which  we  have  been  surveying  in  the 
last  four  chapters,  if  he  be  helped  to  see  it  with  his  own 
eyes  as  it  lies  to-day.  The  smallness  of  Palestine  enables 
us  to  make  this  view  nearly  complete  from  two  points. 

First  let  us  stand  off  the  land  altogether,  and  take  its 
appearance  from  the  sea.  As  you  sail  north  from  Jaffa, 
what  you  see  is  a  straight  line  of  coast  in  alter-  Palestine  from 
nate  stretches  of  cliff  and  sand,  beyond  this  a  ^^^  ^^^• 
plain  varying  from  eight  to  thirty  miles  in  width,  and  then 
the  Central  Range  itself,  a  persistent  mountain-wall  of 
nearly  uniform  level,  rising  clear  and  blue  from  the  slopes 
which  buttress  it  to  the  west.  How  the  heart  throbs  as 
the  eye  sweeps  that  long  and  steadfast  sky-line!  For 
just  behind,  upon  a  line  nearly  coincident  with  the  water- 
parting  between  Jordan  and  the  sea,  lie  Shechem,  Shiloh, 
Bethel,  Jerusalem,  Bethlehem  and  Hebron.  Of  only  one 
of  these  does  any  sign  appear.  Towards  the  north  end  of 
the  range  two  bold  round  hills  break  the  sky-line,  with 
evidence  of  a  deep  valley  between  them.  The  hills  are 
Ebal  and  Gerizim,  and  in  the  valley — the  only  real  pass 
across  the  range — lies  Nablus,  anciently  Shechem. 

That  the  eye  is  thus   drawn   from   the   first   upon   the 


I20   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

position  of  Shechem — and  we  shall  see  that  what  is  thus 
true  of  the  approach  from  the  west  is  also  true  of  that  from 
the  east — while  all  the  other  chief  sites  of  Israel's  life  lie 
hidden  away,  and  are  scarcely  to  be  seen  till  you  come 
upon  them,  is  a  remarkable  fact,  which  we  may  emphasise 
in  passing.  It  is  a  witness  to  the  natural,  and  an  explana- 
tion of  the  historical,  precedence  which  was  enjoyed  by 
this  northern  capital  over  her  more  famous  sister,  Jeru- 
salem. 

But  now  let  us  come  on  to  the  land  itself,  and  take  our 

second  point  of  view  at  this,  its  obvious  centre.     Of  the 

two  hills  beside  Shechem,  Gerizim  is  the  more 

The  view 

from  Mount  famous  historically,  but  Ebal  is  higher,  and  has 

Ebal. 

the  further  prospect.  The  view  from  Ebal 
virtually  covers  the  whole  land,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Negeb.  All  the  four  long  zones,  two  of  the  four  frontiers, 
specimens  of  all  the  physical  features,  and  most  of  the 
famous  scenes  of  the  history,  are  in  sight.  No  geography 
of  Palestine  can  afford  to  dispense  with  the  view  from  the 
top  of  Ebal.     In  detail  it  is  this  : 

Looking  south,  you  have  at  your  feet  the  pass  through 
the  range,  with  Nablus  ;  then  over  it  the  mass  of  Gerizim, 
with  a  ruin  or  two  ;  and  then  twenty-four  miles  of  hill-tops, 
at  the  back  of  which  you  dimly  discern  a  tower.  That 
is  Neby  Samwil,  the  ancient  Mizpeh.  Jerusalem  is  only 
five  miles  beyond,  and  to  the  west  the  tower  overlooks 
the  Shephelah.  Turning  westwards,  you  see — nay,  you 
almost  feel — the  range  letting  itself  down,  by  irregular 
terraces,  on  to  the  plain  ;  the  plain  itself  flattened  by  the 
height  from  which  you  look,  but  really  undulating  to 
mounds  of  one  and  two  hundred  feet ;  beyond  the  plain 
the  gleaming  sandhills  of  the  coast  and  the  infinite  blue 


The  V I eiv  from  Mount  Ebal  121 

sea.  Joppa  lies  south-west  thirty-three  miles ;  Caesarea 
north-west  twenty-nine.  Turning  northwards,  we  have  the 
long  ridge  of  Carmel  running  down  from  its  summit, 
perhaps  thirty-five  miles  distant,  to  the  low  hills  that 
separate  it  from  our  range  ;  over  the  rest  of  this  the  hollow 
that  represents  Esdraelon  ;  over  that  the  hills  of  Galilee  in 
a  haze,  and  above  the  haze  the  glistening  shoulders  of 
Hermon,  at  seventy-five  miles  of  distance.  Sweeping 
south  from  Hermon,  the  eastern  horizon  is  the  edge  of 
Hauran  above  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  continued  by  the  edge 
of  Mount  Gilead  exactly  east  of  us,  and  by  the  edge  of 
Moab,  away  to  the  south-east.  This  line  of  the  Eastern 
Range  is  maintained  at  a  pretty  equal  level,nearly  that  on 
which  we  stand,^  and  seems  unbroken,  save  by  the  incoming 
valleys  of  the  Yarmuk  and  the  Jabbok.  It  is  only  twenty- 
five  miles  away,  and  on  the  near  side  of  it  lies  the  Jordan 
Valley — a  great  wide  gulf,  of  which  the  bottom  is  out  of 
sight.  On  this  side  Jordan  the  foreground  is  the  hilly 
bulwark  of  Mount  Ephraim,  penetrated  by  a  valley  coming 
up  from  Jordan  into  the  plain  of  the  Mukhneh  to  meet 
the  pass  that  splits  the  range  at  our  feet. 

The  view  is  barer  than  a  European  eye  desires,  but  soft- 
ened by  the  haze  the  great  heat  sheds  over  all.  White 
clouds  hang  stagnant  in  the  sky,  and  their  shadows  crouch 
below  them  among  the  hills,  as  dogs  that  wait  for  their 
masters  to  move.  But  I  have  also  seen  the  mists,  as  low 
as  the  land,  sweep  up  from  the  Mediterranean,  and  so 
deluge  the  range  that,  in  a  few  hours,  the  valleys  which 
lie  quiet  through  the  summer  are  loud  with  the  rush  of 
water  and  the  rattle  of  stones  ;  and  though  the  long  trails 
of  cloud  wrap  the  summits,  and  cling  about  tlie  hillsides, 
1  Ebal  is  3077  feet. 


122    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  land  looks  barer  and  more  raw  than  in  the  sunshine. 
The  hills  are  brown,  with  here  and  there  lighter  shades, 
here  and  there  darker.  Look  through  the  glass,  and  you 
see  that  the  lighter  are  wheat-fields  ripening,  the  darker 
are  olive  groves,  sometimes  two  miles  in  extent,  not  thickly 
planted  like  woods  in  our  land,  but  with  the  trees  wide  of 
each  other,  and  the  ground  broken  up  beneath.  Had  we 
looked  west  even  so  recently  as  the  Crusades,  we  should 
have  seen  Sharon  one  oak  forest  from  coast  to  mountain. 
Carmel  is  green  with  its  carobs  and  oak  saplings.  But 
near  us  the  only  great  trees  are  the  walnuts  and  sycomores 
of  Nablus,  immediately  below.  In  valley-beds,  or  on  the 
brow  of  a  steep  slope,  but  mostly  occupying  the  tops  of 
island-knolls,-  are  the  villages.  There  are  no  farmsteads, 
villas,  or  lonely  castles,  for  the  land  is  still  what  it  has 
been  from  Gideon's  and  Deborah's  time — a  disordered 
land,  where  homes  cannot  safely  lie  apart.  In  all  the 
prospect  the  one  town,  the  most  verdant  valley,  lie  at  our 
feet,  and  the  valley  flows  out,  on  the  east,  to  a  sea  of  yellow 
corn  that  fills  the  plain  below  Gerizim.  Anciently  more 
villages  would  have  been  visible,  and  more  corn,  with 
vineyards  where  now  ruined  terrace  walls  add  to  the  stoni- 
ness  of  the  hills.  In  Herod's  day  the  battlements  of 
Caesarea  and  its  great  white  temple  above  the  harbour 
would  have  flashed  to  us  in  the  forenoon  sun  ;  behind 
Ebal  the  city  of  Samaria  would  have  been  still  splendid 
and  populous ;  a  castle  would  have  crowned  Gerizim ; 
there  would  have  been  more  coming  and  going  on  the 
roads,  and  the  sound  of  trumpets  would  have  risen  oftener 
than  it  does  to-day  from  the  little  garrison  below.  In 
Christian  times  we  should  have  seen  the  flat  architecture 
of  the  villages,  which  you  can  scarcely  distinguish  from  the 


The  View  from  Mount  Ebal  123 

shelves  of  the  mountains,  break  into  churches,  with  high 
gables,  cupolas,  and  spires.  For  the  century  of  the  feudal 
kingdom  at  Jerusalem,  castles  were  built  here  and  there, 
and  under  their  shelter  cloisters  and  farmsteads  dared 
to  be  where  they  never  could  be  before  or  since.  That 
must  have  been  one  of  the  greatest  changes  the  look  of 
the  land  has  undergone. 

But  during  all  these  ages  the  great  long  lines  of  the  land 
would  be  spread  out  exactly  in  the  same  way  as  now — the 
straight  coast,  and  its  broad  plain ;  the  range  that  rolls 
from  our  feet  north  and  south,  with  its  eastern  buttresses 
falling  to  the  unseen  bottom  of  the  Jordan  Valley,  and 
across  this  the  long  level  edge  of  the  table-land  of  the 
East. 

It  is  on  Ebal,  too,  that  we  feel  the  size  of  the  Holy 
Land — Hermon  and  the  heights  of  Judah  both  within 
sight,  while  Jordan  is  not  twenty,  nor  the  coast  thirty 
miles  away — and  that  the  old  wonder  comes  strongly 
upon  us  of  the  influence  of  so  small  a  province  on  the 
history  of  the  whole  world.  But  the  explanation  is  also 
within  sight.  Down  below  us,  at  the  mouth  of  the  glen, 
lies  a  little  heap  of  brown  stones.^  The  road  comes  up  to 
it  by  which  the  patriarchs  first  entered  the  land,  and  the 
shadow  of  a  telegraph  post  falls  upon  it.  It  is  Jacob's 
well :  Neither  in  this  mountain  nor  in  Jerusalem  shall  ye 
worship  the  Father ;  but  the  time  co7neth,  and  now  is,  when 
trice  worshippers  shall  worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in 
truth. 

^  Or  did  when  the  writer  was  there  in  1891  ;  but  the  Greek  Church  have 
begun  to  build  over  it. 


BOOK     I  I 
WESTERN    PALESTINE 

CHAPTER    VII 
THE      COAST 


128 


For  this  Chapter  cotisult  Maps  /,  //.,  IV.,  K,  VI. 


THE    COAST 

'  Ante  importuosas  Asccloni    ripas.' 

EVERY  one  remembers,  from  the  map,  the  shape  of 
the  east  end  of  the  Levant.    An  ahnost  straight  line 
runs  from  north  to  south,  with  a  sHght  incHna- 

Phoenicia. 

tion  westward.  There  is  no  large  island  off 
it,  and  upon  it  no  deep  estuary  or  fully  sheltered  gulf  North 
of  the  headland  of  Carmel  nature  has  so  far  assisted  man 
by  prompting  here  a  cape,  and  dropping  there  an  islet,  that 
not  a  few  harbours  have  been  formed  which  have  been,  and 
may  again  become,  historical.  When  we  remember  that 
the  ships  of  antiquity  were  small,  propelled  by  oars  and 
easily  beached,  we  understand  how  these  few  advantages 
were  sufficient  to  bring  forth  the  greatest  maritime  nation 
of  the  ancient  world — especially  with  the  help  of  the 
mountains  behind,  which,  pressing  closely  on  the  coast, 
compelled  the  population  to  push  seaward  for  the  means 
of  livelihood. 

South  of  Carmel  the  Syrian  coast  has  been  much  more 
strictly  drawn.  The  mountains  no  longer  come  so  near  to 
it  as  to  cut  up  the  water  with  their  roots.  But  somh  of 
sandhills  and  cliffs,  from  thirty  to  a  hundred  Carmel. 
feet  high,  run  straight  on  to  the  flat  Egyptian  delta,  with- 
out cither  promontory  or  recess.  A  forward  rock  at 
'Athlit,  two  curves  of  the  beach  at  Tanturah,  twice  low 

127 


128    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

reefs — at  Abu  Zaburah  and  Jaffa — the  faint  promise  of  a 
dock  in  the  inland  basin  of  Askalon,  with  the  barred  mouths 
of  five  or  six  small  streams  ^ — such  are  all  the  possibilities 
of  harbourage  on  this  coast.  The  rest  is  merely  a  shelf  for 
the  casting  of  wreckage  and  the  roosting  of  sea-birds.  The 
currents  are  parallel  to  the  coast,  and  come  north  laden 
with  sand  and  Nile-mud,  that  helps  to  choke  the  few  faint 
estuaries  and  creeks.^  It  is  almost  always  a  lee-shore  ; 
the  prevailing  winds  are  from  the  south-west. 

Of  this  natural  inhospitality  two  consequences  followed 
in  the  history  of  the  land.  In  the  first  place,  no  invader 
ever  disembarked  an  army  south  of  Carmel,  till  the  country 
behind  the  coast  was  already  in  his  power.  Even  invaders 
from  Europe — the  Philistines  themselves  (if  indeed  they 
No  natural  came  from  Crete),2  Alexander,  Pompey,  the 
harbours.  ^^.^j.  Qi-ysaders,  and  Napoleon — found  their  way 
into  Palestine  by  land,  either  from  Egypt  or  from  Asia 
Minor.  Other  Crusaders  disembarked  farther  north,  at 
Acre  or  Tyre,  and  in  the  Third  Crusade,  Richard,  though 
assisted  by  a  fleet,  won  all  the  coast  fortresses  south  of 
Carmel  from  the  land.^  But  again,  this  part  of  the  coast 
has  never  produced  a  maritime  people.  It  is  true  that  the 
name  Phcenicia  once  extended   as  far  south  as  Egypt ;  ^ 

^  The  mouth  of  the  Rubin  is  seventy  yards  across,  and  six  feet  deep,  yet 
by  the  bar,  amoticelleinent  du  sable,  it  can  be  forded  :  G\xh\n,  J^cdee ,  ii.  53. 

2  Admiralty  Charts,  2633,  2634.  Cf.  Otto  Ankel,  Griindzilge  der  Landes- 
natur  des  Westjordanlaitdes,  32,  33.  Thus  the  Nile  has  not  only  created 
Egypt,  but  helped  to  form  the  Syrian  coast.  ^  See  pp.  170  f. 

*  Richard  had  come  to  Acre  by  Cyprus.  Philip  Augustus  and  Konrad 
landed  at  Acca.  Frederick  11.,  in  1228,  came  by  Cyprus  to  Batrun,  south  of 
Tripoli.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  galleys  leaving  Venice  or  Genoa  touched  at 
Corfu,  Crete,  Rhodes,  and  Cyprus,  from  which  they  made  for  Jaffa  as  the 
nearest  port  to  Jerusalem.     See  Felix  Fabri  imP.P.  T.  Series),  vol.  i. 

^  So  Strabo.  Josephus  xv.  Antt.  ix.  6  ;  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  v.  14,  speaks 
of  Joppa  of  the  Phoenicians. 


The  Coast  129 

Phoenician  masonry  has  been  uncovered  at  Tanturah,  the 
name  of  'Arsuf  is  probably  derived  from  the  Phoenician 
god  Resephji  and  we  have  records  of  Sidonian  supremacy 
at  various  times  over  Dora  and  Joppa,  as  of  Tyrian  over 
Joppa  and  Askalon.-  But  the  Phoenicians  cannot  be  said 
to  have  been  at  home  south  of  Carmel.  Phoenicia  proper 
lay  to  the  north  of  that  headland  ;  from  Carmel  to  Egypt 
the  tribes  were  agricultural,  or  interested  in  the  land  trade 
alone.  It  was  not  till  a  seafaring  people  like  the  Greeks 
had  planted  their  colonies  in  Sharon  and  Philistia  that 
great  harbours  were  seriously  attempted.  Of  this  a  striking 
illustration  is  given  by  the  generic  name  of  the  landing- 
places  from  Gaza  to  Caesarea.  This  is  not  Semitic  but 
Greek :  El-mineh,  by  a  very  usual  transposition  of  the 
vowel  and  consonant  of  the  first  syllable,  is  the  Greek 
Limen  ;  ^  Leminah  is  still  in  the  Talmud  the  name  for  the 
port  of  Caesarea.^  The  other  name  for  harbour  on  this 
coast,  Maiumas,  has  not  yet  been  explained.^ 

^  See  Survey  Memoirs,  ii.  p.  137  ff.  Clermont-Ganneau,  Rectteil 
(P Archeologie  Orie/ttal.  It  is  M.  Ganneau  who  has  proposed  the  interesting 
identification  of  Horus,  Reseph,  Perseus,  and  St.  George.  The  myths  of 
Perseus  and  St.  George  were  both  born  on  this  coast,  see  p.  162.  A  stone 
hawk,  which  he  maintains  is  the  symbol  of  Horus,  was  found  at  'Arsuf.  He 
adds  that  Reseph  was  probably  equivalent  to  Apollo,  and  in  Egypt  Apollo 
and  Horus  were  equal.  But  the  classical  name  of  'Arsuf,  ApoUonia,  cannot  be 
used  to  assist  this  identification.  It  was  probably  conferred  by  Apollonius,  son 
ofThraseas,  who  governed  Coele-Syria  for  Seleucus  Antipater,  i  Mace.  x.  69  ff. 
It  was  rebuilt  by  Gabinius  in  57  B.C. ,  in  the  Crusades  itwas  besieged  by  Godfrey, 
taken  by  Baldwin,  again  by  Richard ;  Louis  restored  the  fortifications,  and  it 
was  finally  destroyed  by  Bibars  in  1265. 

2  Inscription  of  Eshmunazar,  11.  18,  19,  in  the  C./.S.,  i.  19,  20,  which 
records  the  grant  of  Dora  and  Joppa  to  Sidon.  Scylax  {Geograpki  Grceci 
Minores,  ed.  Miiller,  i.  79)  assigns  Dora  to  the  Sidonians  and  Askalon  to  the 
Tyrians  during  the  Persian  period.  For  Phoenician  trade  with  Joppa,  cf. 
Jonah  i.  3,  2  Chron.  iv.  16.  But  the  name  of  Joppa  is  not  inserted  in  the 
parallel  passage  in  i  Kings  v.  '  Like  'Arsfif  from  Reseph. 

*  nrO^,  Talmud  Jerus.     Gittin,  i.  i.     Cf.  Conder,  Tent  Work,  p.  283. 

"^  Conder  makes  it  equivalent  to  watering-place. 

I 


130   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

But   the   failure  even    of  these  attempts   to   establish 
permanent  ports  for  deep-sea  vessels  is  a  yet  stronger 

Wrecked     proof  of  the  inhospitable  character  of  the  coast. 

harbours,  j^g^  ^g  \.2\^&  them  in  seoes  from  the  north. 
'Athlit  has  twice  been  held  against  all  the  rest  of  Palestine. 
In  130  A.D.  it  was  the  last  stronghold  of  Jewish  independ- 
ence :  in  the  thirteenth  century  it  was  the  last  fortress  of 
the  Cross.^  Yet  seaward  'Athlit  is  unsheltered.  The  blunt 
foreland  suggests  the  only  kind  of  harbour  possible  on  the 
Syrian  shore — a  double  port  facing  north  and  south,  whose 
opposite  basins  might  compensate  for  each  other's  ex- 
posure ;  yet  no  such  harbour  seems  to  have  been  attempted. 
The  Crusading  ruins  at  'Athlit  are  numerous  and  solid  ; 
there  is  a  castle,  a  church,  and  remains  of  a  mighty  sea- 
wall. Yet  the  men  who  built  these  built  out  into  the  sea 
nothing  but  a  jetty  that  is  now  covered  by  the  waves. 
Farther  south  at  Tanturah,  the  ancient  Dor,  Merla,  or  La 
Merle  of  the  Crusaders,^  there  are  also  great  buildings 
and  the  suggestion  of  a  double  harbour.  If  this  was 
ever  achieved,  it  has  disappeared,  and  only  a  few  coasting 
vessels  now  put  in  to  the  unprotected  rock.  Caesarea  had 
a  great  port ;  yet  nothing  but  part  of  its  mole  remains. 
Within  the  reefs  at  Minet  'Abu  Zaburah  the  inhabitants  of. 
Nablus  used  to  keep  a  few  boats,  but  little  masonry  is 
visible.^  At  'Arsuf,"^  there  is  a  tiny  harbour,  yawning  thirty 
feet  between  a  jetty  and  a  reef ;  it  is  used  by  fishermen. 
Every  one  knows  the  open  roadstead  at  Jaffa,  with  the  reefs 
that  are  more  dangerous  in  foul  weather  than  they  are 

^  It  was  known  then  as  Castellum  Pe?-egiino)iim. 

2  On  Dor  see  further,  ch.  xix.     On  La  Merle,  cf.    Geoffrey  de  Vinsauf, 
Itinerarmm  Ricardi,  iv.  14. 
^  The  famous  water-melons  of  Mukhalitl  arc  exported  from  here. 
'*  See  p.  129. 


The  Coast  131 

useful  in  fair.^  In  olden  days  Jamnia  had  a  Limen  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Nahr  Rubin,  but  the  Minet  Rubin,  as  it  is 
now  called,  is  a  little  way  off  this,  and  by  a  few  rocks 
with  some  masonry  provides  only  a  landing-place  for  small 
boats.-  The  Limen  of  Ashdod  is  now  the  Minet-el-Kulah, 
with  a  landing-place  between  reefs  *  at  which  ships  occa- 
sionally touch.'  ^  At  Askalon  there  are  visible  at  low  water 
two  shallows  of  crescent  shape,  which  are  perhaps  remains 
of  ancient  moles,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  rocky  basin,  in 
which  the  mediaeval  city  was  confined,  explorers  think  they 
can  trace  the  lines  of  a  little  dock  ;  but  the  sand,  which 
drifts  so  fast  up  the  coast,  has  choked  the  dock,  and  in  the 
sea  there  is  only  a  jetty  left.^  The  Limen  of  Gaza  was 
once  a  considerable  town,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  ruins 
that  still  break  from  the  sand,  but  the  beach  is  now  straight 
and  low,  and  the  roadstead  as  unsheltered  as  Jaffa. 

Thus,  while  the  cruelty  of  many  another  wild  coast  is 
known  by  the  wrecks  of  ships,  the  Syrian  shore  south  of 
Carmel  is  strewn  with  the  fiercer  wreckage  of  harbours. 

I  have  twice  sailed  along  this  coast  on  a  summer  after- 
noon with  the  western  sun  thoroughly  illuminating  it,  and  I 
remember  no  break  in  the  long  line  of  foam  where  land 
and  sea  met,  no  single  spot  where  the  land  gave  way  and 
welcomed  the  sea  to  itself  On  both  occasions  the  air 
was  quiet,  yet  all  along  the  line  there  was  disturbance. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  land  were  everywhere  saying  to  the 
sea :  I  do  not  wish  you,  I  do  not  need  you.  And  this 
echoes  through  most  of  the  Old  Testament.  Here  the 
sea  spreads  before  us  for  spectacle,  for  symbol,  for  music, 

^  Pliny's  description  {H.N.,  v.  14)  suits  the  Jaffa  of  to-day:  '  Insidet 
collem  proejacente  saxo.'  2     Guerin,  ii.  54. 

^  P.E.F.  Mem.  i.,  all  signs  of  a  harbour  are  covered  with  drifting  sands. 
•*  Z.D.P.  F.,  ii.  164,  with  a  plan.     Gv^ixxWyJtidee,  ii.  155. 


[2    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


for  promise,  but  never  for  use — save  in  one  case,  when 
a  prophet  sought  it  as  an  escape  from  his  God.^     In  the 

The  coast  Psalms  the  straight  coast  serves  to  illustrate 
in  Scripture.  ^^  irremovable  limits  which  the  Almighty 
has  set  between  sea  and  land.  In  the  Prophets  its  roar 
and  foam  symbolise  the  futile  rage  of  the  heathen  beat- 
ing on  Jehovah's  steadfast  purpose  for  His  own  people : 
Ah  I  the  booming  of  the  peoples,  the  multitudes — like  the 
booming  of  the  seas  they  boom  ;  and  the  rushing  of  the 
nations,  like  the  rushing  of  mighty  waters  they  rush  ;  nations 
— like  the  rushing  of  many  zvaters  they  rush.  But  He 
checketh  it,  and  it  fleeth  far  away,  and  is  chased  like  chaff 
on  the  mountains  before  the  wind,  and  like  sivirling  dust 
before  a  whirlwind} 

As  in  the  Psalms  and  the  Prophets,  so  also  in  the  His- 
tory the  sea  was  a  barrier  and  not  a  highway.  From  the 
first  it  was  said  :  Ye  shall  have  the  Great  Sea  for  a  border? 
Throughout  the  language  the  sea  is  a  horizon  :  the  Hebrew 
name  for  the  West  is  the  Sea.  There  were  three  tribes, 
of  whom  we  have  evidence  that  they  reached  the  maritime 
frontier  appointed  for  them  :  Dan,  who  in  Deborah's  time 
was  remaining  in  ships,^  but  he  speedily  left  them  and  his 
bit  of  coast  at  Joppa  for  the  far  inland  sources  of  Jordan  ; 
and  Asher  and  Zebulon,  whose  territory  was  not  south 
but  north  of  Carmel.  Even  in  their  case  no  ports  are 
mentioned,  the  word  translated  haven,  in  the  blessing  of 
Zebulon  and  in  the  blame  of  Asher,^  being  but  beach,  land 
zvashed  by  the  sea,  and  the  word  translated  creeks  meaning 

^  Though  in  another  they,  that  go  doivn  to  the  sea  in  ships  and  do 
business  in  great  waters,  are  Hebrews,  worshippers  of  Jehovah,  Ps.  cvii. 
23,  24. 

^  Isa.  xvii.  12,  13.  ^  Num.  xxxiv.  6. 

*  Judges  V.  17.     See  p.  174.  '•'  Gen.  xlix.  13  ;  Judges  v.  17. 


The  Coast  133 

no  more  than  just  cracks  or  breaks.  Again,  when  the 
builders  of  the  second  temple  hire  Phoenicians  to  bring 
timber  from  Lebanon  to  Joppa,  it  is  not  written  '  to  the 
harbour  or  creek  of  Joppa,'  but  to  the  sea  of  Joppa}  So 
that  the  only  mention  of  a  real  harbour  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  in  the  general  picture  of  the  storm  in  Psalm  cvii., 
where  the  word  used  means  refuge.  Of  the  name  or  idea 
of  a  port,  gateway  in  or  out,  there  is  no  trace ;  and,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  in  the  designation  for  the  port  of 
Cassarea  in  the  Talmud,  Leminah,  and  in  the  name  still 
given  to  some  landing-places  on  the  Philistine  coast,  El- 
Mineh,  it  is  no  Semitic  root,  but  the  Greek  Limen  which 
appears.  In  this  inability  of  their  coast-line  to  furnish 
the  language  of  Israel  with  even  the  suggestion  of 
a  port,  we  have  the  crowning  proof  of  the  peculiar 
security  and  seclusion  of  their  land  as  far  as  the  sea  is 
concerned. 

We  can  now  appreciate  how  much  truth  there  is  in  the 
contrast  commonly  made  between  Palestine  and  Greece. 
In  respect  of  security  the  two  lands  do  not  Palestine  and 
much  differ  ;  the  physical  geography  of  Greece  ^'"^^'^^• 
is  even  more  admirably  adapted  than  that  of  Palestine 
for  purposes  of  defence.  But  in  respect  of  seclusion 
from  the  sea,  and  the  world  which  could  be  reached 
by  the  sea,  they  differed  entirely.  Upon  almost  every 
league  of  his  broken  and  embayed  coast-line,  the  ancient 
Greek  had  an  invitation  to  voyage.  The  sea  came  far 
inland  to  woo  him  :  by  island  after  island  she  tempted  him 
across  to  other  continents.  She  was  the  ready  means  to 
him  of  commerce,  of  colonising,  and  of  all  that  change  and 
adventure  with  other  men,  which  breed  openness,originality 

^  Ezra  iii.  7. 


134    ^^^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  subtlety  of  mind.  But  the  coast-line  of  the  Jew  was 
very  different,  and  from  his  high  inland  station  he  saw  it 
only  far  off — a  stiff,  stormy  line,  down  the  whole  length 
of  which  as  there  was  nothing  to  tempt  men  in,  so  there 
was  nothing  to  tempt  them  out.^ 

The  effect  of  a  nation's  physical  environment  upon  their 
temper  and  ideals  is  always  interesting,  but  can  never  be 
more  than  vaguely  described.  Whereas  of  even  greater 
interest,  and  capable  too  of  exact  definition,  because 
abrupt,  imperious  and  supreme,  is  the  manner  in  which  a 
nation's  genius,  by  sheer  moral  force  and  Divine  inspiration, 
dares  to  look  beyond  its  natural  limits,  feels  at  last  too 
great  for  the  conditions  in  which  it  was  developed,  and 
appropriates  regions  and  peoples,  towards  which  nature 
has  provided  it  with  no  avenue.  Such  a  process  is 
nowhere  more  evident  than  in  the  history  of  Israel ;  we 
find  the  history  not  only  as  in  other  lands,  moulded  by 
the  geography,  but  also  breaking  the  moulds,  and  seeking 
imperiously  new  spheres.  The  first  instance  of  this  meets 
us  now.  In  the  development  of  the  religious  consciousness 
of  this  once  desert  tribe,  there  came  a  time  when  her  eyes 
were  lifted  beyond  that  iron  coast,  and  her  face,  in  the 
words  of  her  great  prophet,  became  radiant  and  her  heart 
targe  zvitli  the  sparkle  of  the  sea :  for  there  is  turned  tipon 
thee  tJie  seas  flood-tide,  and  the  wealth  of  the  natio7is  is 
coming  unto  thee.  Who  are  these  like  a  cloud  that  fly,  and 
like  doves  to  their  windows  ?  Surely  towards  me  the  isles 
are  stretching,  and  ships  of  Tarshish  in  the  van,  to  bring 
thy  sons  from  afar,  their  silver  and  their  gold  with  them,  to 

^  Hull  [P.E.F.  Memoir  on  Geology,  etc.,  of  Arabia  Petraa,  Palestine,  etc.) 
proves  that,  at  no  very  remote  date,  the  sea  washed  the  foot  of  the  hills.  Had 
this  lasted  into  historical  times  the  whole  history  of  Judrea  and  Samaria  would 
have  been  utterly  different. 


The  Coast  135 

the  name  of  JeJiovah  of  Hosts  and  to  the  Holy  of  Israel,  for 
He  hath  glorified  thee.  Isles  here  are  any  lands  washed  by 
the  sea,  but  what  the  prophets  had  chiefly  in  view  were 
those  islands  and  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  which  were 
within  physical  sight  of  the  Greek,  but  to  the  Hebrew 
could  be  the  object  only  of  spiritual  ambition.  Six  of 
them  at  least  are  named  in  the  Old  Testament.      ^ 

The  Isles. 

The  nearest  is  Cyprus,  whose  people  are  called 
Kittim,  from  the  ancient  town  of  Kti  or  Kition.^  Cyprus 
is  not,  of  course,  in  sight  of  any  part  of  the  territories  of 
Israel,  but  its  hills  can  be  seen  at  most  times  from  those 
hills  of  northern  Syria  that  are  immediately  opposite  to 
them,  and  even  from  southern  Lebanon  above  Beyrout, 
during  a  few  weeks  about  midsummer,  when  the  sun  sets 
behind  Mount  Troodos,  the  peak  of  that  mountain  comes 
out  black  against  the  afterglow.^  It  was  these  glimpses  of 
land  in  the  setting  sun,  which  first  drew  the  Phoenicians 
westward,  and  from  the  Phoenicians  the  Israelites  had  their 
knowledge.  Beyond  Cyprus  is  Rhodes,  and  that  was 
called  Rodan  among  the  Hebrews  and  its  people  Rodanim.^ 
Crete  was  known  to  them  under  the  name  Kaphtor."* 
These,  the  only  three  islands  of  the  Mediterranean  men- 
tioned in  the  Old  Testament,  were  evidently  the  line  of 
Phoenician  progress  westward  :  they  are  also  the  three 
that  occur  in  nearly  every  mediaeval  voyage  from  Syria  to 
Europe.^    Beyond  them  loomed  to  the  Hebrews,  farther  and 

*  C.I.S.,  i.  137  :  cf.  Gen,  x.  4  ;  Numbers  xxiv.  24  ;  Isaiah  xxiii.  i,  12. 

^  So  Dr.  Carslaw  of  Shweir  and  I  saw  it  in  July  1891  from  a  hill  in  front  of 
Shweir,  six  hours  from  Beyrout,  and  5000  feet  above  the  Mediterranean. 

^  In  Ezek.  xxvii.  20,  for  pT  Dedan  read  pi  Rodan,  and  in  Gen.  x.  4, 
for  D^JIT  Dodanim  read  D''JT)  Rodanim,  where  the  LXX.  have'P65:o£. 

*  This  is  more  probable  than  that  Kaphtor  should  be  Kaft-ur,  an  Egyptian 
name  for  the  Delia.     See  notes  on  p.  170.  ''  Cf.  p.  128,  n.  4. 


136   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

more  uncertain  coasts.  The  name  Javan  came  from  the 
lonians  or  lafones,  on  the  Asiatic  shores  of  the  yEgean,^ 
but  is  used  of  all  Greeks  down  to  Alexander  the  Great.- 
Tubal  and  Meshech,  often  mentioned  with  Javan,^  were 
tribes  in  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor.  Beyond  Javan  were 
the  coasts  of  Elisha,^  that  was  perhaps  Sicily,  and  Tar- 
shish,  the  great  Phoenician  colony  in  Spain.  To  all  of 
these  ships  traded  from  Tyre  and  Sidon  and  Accho  and 
Joppa.  Their  outward  cargoes  were  Syrian  wheat,  oil, 
and  balm,  with  Oriental  wares,  and  they  brought  back 
cloth,  purple  and  scarlet,  silver,  iron,  tin,  lead,  and  brass.^ 
Sometimes  they  carried  west  Hebrew  slaves^  and  outlaws,'' 
forerunners  of  the  great  Dispersion. 

The  isles  shall  wait  for  His  law  ;  let  them  give  glory  to 
fehovah,  and  publish  His  praise  in  the  isles :  unto  Me  the 
Toppaandthe  ^^^^^  shall  hope.  When,  at  last,  the  Jews  got 
Maccabees.  their  first  and  only  harbour,^  it  was  such  a 
prophecy  as  this  which  woke  up  within  them.  Of  Simon 
Maccabeus  the  historian  says  :  '  With  all  his  glory  he  took 
Joppa  for  an  haven,  and  made  an  entrance  to  the  isles  of 
the   sea.'  ^     The  exultation   of  this   statement — the  glad 

^  Isa.  Ixvi.  19  ;  Ezek.  xxvii.  13,  19.  In  the  last  verse,  for  Dan  also  read 
Vedan,  which  is  unknown.  ^  Daniel  viii.  21  ;  xi.  2. 

3  Gen.  X.  2;  Ezek.  xxvii.  13.  Tubal  was  the  Tebarenians ;  Meshech  the 
Moschoi  of  Herodotus.     Schrader,  K.A.T.,  82-84. 

*  Gen.  X.  4,  Elisha,  son  of  Javan  ;  i  Chron.  i.  7 ;  Ezek.  xxvii.  7. 

^  Ezek.  xxvii.  6,  12,  13,  17.  ^  Amos  ii.  9.  '  Jonah  i.  3. 

^  Eziongeber  was  probably  only  held  for  them,  and  we  are  speaking  now 
of  the  western  coast, 

^  I  Mace.  xiv.  5  '•  Kai  ytiera  vacq^  rr\%  d6^7]s  airov  Aa/3e  rriv  'ISTrwrjv  eh 
Xi/jL^va  Kai  eiroitjcev  eiaodov  raTs  v-qaoLS  rrjs  daXdaff-qs.  This  was  about  144  B.C. 
Jonathan  Maccabeus  had  captured  Joppa  in  148  (i  Mace.  x.  76),  and  in  145 
he  had  made  Simon  lord  of  the  coast  from  the  Ladder  of  Tyre  to  the  Border 
of  Egypt.  But  this  lordship  was  only  nominal,  till  the  next  year,  when  the 
Greek  natives  of  Joppa  being  about  to  revolt,  Simon  occupied  it  with  a  force, 
and  then,  a  few  years  later  (about  141),  fortified  it. 


The  Coast  137 

'At  last!'  that  is  audible  in  it — was  very  natural;  and 
we  sympathise  with  it  the  more  when  we  learn  that  this 
was  not  a  mere  military  operation  of  Simon's,  but,  accord- 
ing to  his  light,  a  thoroughly  religious  measure.  In  those 
great  days,  when  Jews  took  a  town  within  the  promised 
boundaries,  they  purged  it  of  the  heathen  and  their  idols, 
and  settled  in  it  *  such  men  as  would  keep  the  Law.'  ^  The 
Lazu,  then,  was  at  last  established  on  the  sea,  with  an  open 
gate  to  the  isles,  and  the  people  of  Jehovah  had  more 
reason  to  be  rapturous  than  at  any  time  since  the  prophecies 
of  their  western  progress  were  first  uttered.  Their  hopes, 
however,  were  defeated  by  the  rigour  of  the  measures  they 
took  to  fulfil  them.  In  every  town  the  Hellenised  popu- 
lation 2  rose  against  this  fanatic  priest  from  the  rude  high- 
lands, with  no  right  to  the  sea,  and  intrigued  for  the 
return  of  Antiochi  or  Ptolemies,  who  allowed  them  to 
worship  their  own  gods.  It  was  the  old  opposition  between 
Philistia  and  Israel,  on  the  old  ground.  Twice  the  Syrians 
retook  Joppa,  twice  Hyrcanus  (Simon's  successor)  won  it 
back.  Then,  after  twenty  years  of  Jewish  possession, 
Pompey  came  in  6^,  B.C.,  and  decreed  that,  with  the  other 
coast  towns,  it  should  be  free.^  But  in  47  Caesar  excepted 
Joppa,  'which  the  Jews  had  originally,'  and  decreed  'it 
shall  belong  to  them,  as  it  formerly  did ; '  ^  and  later 
Augustus  added  it,  with  other  cities,  to  Herod  the  Great's 

^  So  Simon  did  at  Gazara,  i  Mace.  xiii.  47,  and,  we  can  understand,  in 
Joppa  also,  though  in  a  sea-town  full  of  foreigners  the  task  would  be  more 
difficult,  and  not  so  perfectly  accomplished. 

-  In  all  the  coast  towns  at  this  time,  though  the  bulk  of  the  common  people 
were  from  the  old  stocks  of  the  country,  and  spoke  Aramaic,  the  upper  classes 
were  Greek,  and  Greek  was  the  official  language  ;  and  the  native  deities  were 
amalgamated  with  their  Greek  counterparts. 

^  Josephus  xiv.  An^t.  iv.  4  ;  i.  Wats,  vii.  7  :  '  He  restored  to  their  own 
citizens.'  *  Josephus  xiv.  Antt.  x.  6. 


138   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

kingdom.^  Joppa  was  therefore  Jewish  as  no  other  town 
on  the  coast  or  Maritime  Plain  became,  and  so  it  con- 
tinued till  the  campaign  of  Vespasian  in  68  A.D.  And  it 
was  violently  Jewish.  Though  Joppa  was  tributary  to 
Herod  he  never  resided  there,  or  tried  to  rebuild  it,  or  to 
plant  heathen  features  upon  it.  Alone  of  the  chief  cities 
of  the  region,  it  had  no  Greek  or  Latin  name  attached  to 
it.  In  close  commerce  with  Jerusalem,  Joppa  was  infected 
with  the  fanatic  patriotism  of  the  latter  ;  as  there  were  rebels 
and  assassins  there,  so  there  were  rebels  and  pirates  here. 
The  spirit  of  disaffection  towards  Rome  passed  through  the 
same  crises  in  the  coast  town  as  in  the  capital.  In  the 
terrible  outbreak  of  66,  when  every  other  town  of  the 
Maritime  Plain  was  divided  into  two  camps,^  and  Jews 
and  Hellenised  Syrians  massacred  each  other,  Joppa  alone 
remained  Jewish,  and  it  was  Joppa  that  Cestius  Gallus 
first  attacked  on  his  march  to  Jerusalem.^  In  the  years 
before  the  Jews  thus  took  to  arms  Joppa  had  doubtless 
been  distinguished  by  the  more  peaceful  exercises  of  the 
same  Judaistic  spirit.  On  ground  which  was  free  from 
heathen  buildings  and  rites,  the  Pharisees  must  have 
imitated  as  far  as  possible  the  rigorous  measures  of  the 
Maccabees,  and  cherished  the  ancient  and  noble  hopes 
which  the  sea  inspired  in  their  race,  along  with  many 
petty  precautions  against  the  foreigners  whom  it  drifted  to 
their  feet.  This  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Peter  came 
down  from  Jerusalem  to  Joppa,  and  dreamt  of  things  clean 
and  unclean,  on  the  housetop  overlooking  the  harbour.* 

If  now  we  turn  to  the  neighbouring  Caesarea,  we  see  as 
great  a  contrast  as  was  possible  on  the  same  coast.     Was 

1  Josephus  XV.  Antt,  vii.  3  ;  ii.  Wan,  vi.  3.  ^  ii.  Wars,  xviii.  2. 

2  lb.  10.  ■*  Acts  X. 


The  Coast  139 

Joppa  Jewish,  national,  patriotic,  Caesarea  was  Herodian, 
Roman  in  obedience,  Greek  in  culture.  At  first  the 
Herodian  strongholds  had  all  lain  on  the  east 
of  Palestine,  and  for  the  most  part  in  wild, 
inaccessible  places,  like  Macha^rus  and  Masada,  as  best 
became  a  family  not  sure  of  its  station,  and  sometimes 
chased  from  power  by  its  enemies.  But  when  Herod  won 
the  favour  of  Augustus,  and  time  made  it  clear  that  the 
power  of  Augustus  was  to  be  permanent,  Herod  came 
over  the  Central  Range  of  Palestine,  and  on  sites  granted 
by  his  patron  built  himself  cities  that  looked  westward. 
He  embellished  and  fortified  both  Jerusalem  and  Samaria. 
Then  he  looked  for  a  sea-port.  On  the  coast  Augustus 
had  given  him  Gaza,  with  Anthedon,  Joppa  and  Straton's 
Tower.^  He  chose  the  last — Josephus  says  because  it 
was  more  fit  to  be  a  sea-port  than  Joppa.  But  this 
was  not  so.  The  reasons  of  his  choice  were  political. 
We  must  suppose,  it  was  more  important  for  Herod  to 
have  a  harbour  suited  to  Sebaste  than  to  Jerusalem,  for 
Sebaste  itself  was  nearer  the  sea  and  more  in  his  own 
hands  than  the  Holy  City.  Besides,  Joppa,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  national  rather  than  Herodian  in  spirit.  Straton's 
Tower  was  virtually  a  fresh  site.  Here  Herod  laid  the 
lines  of  'a  magnificent  city,'  and  spent  twelve  years  in 
building  it.^  He  erected  sumptuous  palaces  and  large 
edifices  for  'containing  the  people,'  a  temple  on  raised 
ground,  a  theatre,  and  an  amphitheatre  with  prospect  to 
the  sea.  There  were  also  a  great  number  of  arches,  cellars, 
and  vaults  for  draining  the  city,  'which  had  no  less  of 
architecture   bestowed  on  them  than  had   the   buildings 

^  i.  Wars,  xx.  3. 

*  Josephus  XV.  Antt.  ix.  6;  but  in  xvi.  Antt.  v.  i.,  'ten  years.' 


1 40   The  Histo7'ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

above  ground.'  But  the  greatest  work  of  all  was  the 
haven.  A  breakwater  200  feet  wide  was  formed  in  twenty 
fathoms  depth  by  dropping  into  the  waves  enormous 
stones.  The  half  of  it  was  opposed  to  the  course  of  the 
waves,  so  as  to  keep  off  those  waves  which  were  to  break 
upon  it,  and  so  was  called  Procymatia,  or  '  first  breaker  of 
waves,'  while  the  other  half  had  upon  it  a  wall  with  several 
towers.  There  were  also  a  great  number  of  arches,  where 
the  sailors  lodged,  and  before  them  a  quay,  which  ran 
round  the  whole  haven,  and  '  was  a  most  pleasant  walk  for 
such  as  had  a  mind  to  that  exercise.'  The  entrance  of  the 
port  was  on  '  the  north,  on  which  side  was  the  gentlest  of 
all  the  winds  in  this  place.'  On  the  left  of  the  entrance 
was  a  round  turret,  made  very  strong  in  order  to  meet  the 
greatest  waves,  while  on  the  right  stood  two  enormous 
stones  upright  and  joined  together,  each  of  them  larger 
than  the  turret  opposite.^  To-day  the  mole  is  160  yards 
from  shore,  and  the  mouth  of  the  harbour  measures  180.^ 
This  immense  haven  had  a  name  to  itself — Sebastos  Limen 
— which  even  dwarfed  the  name  of  the  city,  Csesarea.^ 
In  later  times  the  latter  is  called  The  Csesarea  beside  the 
August  Harbour,*  and  Jews  also,  as  we  have  seen,  spoke  of 
the  Leminah  by  itself;  for  it  was  the  harbour — the  first, 
the  only  real  port  upon  that  coast.  Csesarea  speedily 
became,  and  long  continued  to  be,  the  virtual  capital  of 
Palestine — the  only  instance  of  a  coast  town  which  ever 

^  Josephusxv.  Antt.  ix.  6,  abridged.  ^  P.E.F.  Mem.  ii. 

^  Kaicrapeta  "Ze^aaT-f) :  'Kaiaapela  Ila/jaXtis,  Katffapela  i]  iirl  da\a.TT7i. 
Ccesarea  Stratonis,  Cresarea  Palestins2,  and,  after  Vespasian's  time,  Colonia 
Prima  Flavia  Augusta  Csesarea.  The  last  name  in  Pliny,  Natural  History, 
V,  69,  and  in  a  Latin  inscription  discovered  in  the  neighbourhood. 

*  On  a  coin  of  Nero  :  KAISAPEIA  H  HPOS  SEBASTfi  AIMENI.  The 
coin  is  given  in  De  Saulcy's  Numismatique  de  la  Terre  Samte,  p.  116. 


The  Coast  1 4  r 

did  so.  '  Caesarea  Judaeac  caput  est,'  says  Tacitus,^  but 
he  means  the  Roman  province  of  that  name.  Judaean,  in 
the  true  sense  of  the  word,  Caesarea  never  was.  The 
gateway  to  Rome,  the  place  was  already  a  piece  of  Latin 
soil.-  The  procurator  had  his  seat  in  it,  there  was  an 
Italian  garrison,  and  on  the  great  white  temple  that  shone 
out  over  the  harbour  to  the  far  seas,  stood  two  statues — of 
Augustus  and  of  Rome.^  It  was  heathendom  in  all  its 
glory  at  the  very  door  of  the  true  religion  !  Yes,  but  the 
contrast  might  be  reversed.  It  was  justice  and  freedom 
In  the  most  fanatical  and  turbulent  province  of  the  world. 
In  seeking  separation  from  his  people,  and  an  open  door 
to  the  West,  Herod  had  secured  these  benefits  for  a  nobler 
cause  than  his  own,  to  which  we  now  turn. 

Peter  came  to  the  Joppa  which  has  been  described,  and 
it  is  interesting  to  note  that  he  came  by  Lydda — in  those 
days  another  great  centre  of  Jewish  feeling.  peterat 
It  was  Joppa,  Lydda,  and  Jerusalem  which  Joppa. 
Cestius  Gallus  singled  out  as  the  centres  of  the  national 
revolt.*  To  Jewish  Joppa  Jewish  Peter  came ;  and  we 
can  understand  that  as  he  moved  about  its  narrow  lanes, 
leading  to  the  sea,  where  his  scrupulous  countrymen  were 
jostled  by  foreign  sailors  and  foreign  wares,  he  grew  more 
concerned  than  ever  about  the  ceremonial  law.  While 
food  was  being  prepared — observe  the  legal  moment — he 
saw,  above  this  jealous  bit  of  earth,  heaven  opened,  and  a 
certain  vessel  descending  as  it  had  been  a  great  sheet — 
perhaps  the  sail  of  one  of  these  large  Western  ships  in  the 
offing — let  down  by  the  four  corners  to  the  earth,  wherein 

1  Hist.  ii.  78. 

*  The  Jews  called  Cccsarea  the  daughter  of  Edom — their  symbolic  name 
for  Rome.      Talmud  Baby  I.  Megillah,  6a. 

*  Josephus  as  above.  ••  ii.  Wars,  xviii.   lo. 


142    The  Histo7'ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

were  all  the  four-footed  beasts  of  the  earth,  atid  witd  beasts, 
and  creeping  things,  and  fowls  of  the  air.  And  there  came 
a  voice  to  him.  Rise,  Peter,  kill  and  eat !  But  Peter  said, 
Not  so,  Lord,  for  I  have  never  eate^i  anything  that  is  common 
or  unclean.  To  his  strict  conscience  the  contents  had  been 
a  temptation.  And  the  voice  said  unto  hitn  a  second  time. 
What  God  hath  cleansed  call  not  thou  common  !  This  was 
done  thrice,  and  the  vessel  was  received  up  into  heaven  again. 
And  at  '^^^  vision  took  place  in  Joppa,  but  the  fact 

Csesarea.  ^^g  fulfilled  in  freer  Caesarea.  Here,  on  what 
was  virtually  Gentile  soil,  and  amid  surroundings  not  very 
different  from  those  of  Paul's  sermon  on  Areopagus,^  Peter 
made  his  similar  declaration,  Of  a  truth  I  perceive  that  God 
is  no  respecter  of  persons  ;  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth 
Him  and  worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  with  Him.  Here, 
in  a  Roman  soldier's  house,  in  face  of  the  only  great  port 
broken  westward  through  Israel's  stormy  coast,  the  Gentile 
Pentecost  took  place,  and  on  the  Gentiles  was  poured  out 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost?- 

Again,  in  the  narrative  of  Paul's  missions,  Caesarea  is 
the  harbour  by  which  he  reaches  Syria  from  Ephesus, 
Paul  at  ^^'^  from  which  he  sails  on  his  last  voyage  for 
Cassarea.  Italy.^  More  significant  still  were  his  removal 
to  Caesarea  from  Jerusalem,  and  the  anxiety  of  the  Jewish 
authorities  to  get  him  brought  back  to  Jerusalem.*  In  the 
Holy  City  they  would  not  give  him  a  fair  hearing  ;  his  life 
was  in  danger,  they  lay  in  wait  to  kill  him.  In  Caesarea 
he  was  heard  to  the  end  of  his  plea  ;  but  for  his  appeal  to 
Caesar,  he  would  have  been   acquitted,  and  during  two 

1  Josephus  says  that  the  Limen  of  Csesarea  was  like  the  Piraeus ;  and  the 
great  temple  and  court  of  justice  stood  hard  by.  "  Acts  x. 

^  Acts  xviii.  22  ;  xxvii.  i.  ■  ••  Acts  xxv.  3. 


The  Coast  143 

whole  years  in  which  he  lived  in  the  place,  receiving  his 
friends,  and  enjoying  a  certain  amount  of  liberty — though 
the  place  had  many  Jewish  inhabitants  ^ — no  one  ventured 
to  waylay  him.  There  were  only  some  sixty  miles  between 
Caesarea  and  Jerusalem,  but  in  the  year  60  Caesarea  was 
virtually  Rome. 

The  subsequent  history  of  Herod's  harbour  repeats  what 
we  have  already  learned  of  it.  As  long  as  the  land  was 
held  by  men  with  interests  in  the  West,  the     „ 

■'  Caesarea  in 

town   triumphed   over   the   unsuitableness   of    subsequent 

^  history. 

its  site  ;  but  when  Palestine  passed  into  the 
hands  of  an  Eastern  people,  with  no  maritime  ambitions, 
it  dwindled,  and  was  finally  destroyed  by  them.  Caesarea 
was  Vespasian's  head-quarters,  equally  opportune  for 
Galilee,  Samaria  and  Judaea,  and  there  he  was  proclaimed 
Emperor  in  69.  He  also  established  close  by  a  colony 
under  the  title  Prima  Flavia  Augusta  Caesarea.  Very  early 
there  was  a  Christian  bishop  of  Caesarea,  who  became 
Metropolitan  of  Syria.  Origen  fled  here,  and  Eusebius 
was  Archbishop  from  315-318.  When  the  Moslems  came, 
Caesarea  was  the  head-quarters  of  Sergius,  the  Byzantine 
general  :  in  638  it  was  occupied  by  'Abu  'Obeida.  Under 
the  Arabs  its  importance,  of  course,  sank.  The  town 
continued  opulent,  but  famous  only  for  its  agricultural 
products,^  and  Herod's  splendid  harbour  must  have  fallen 
into  decay.  The  town  was  left  alone  by  the  first  Crusaders, 
but  King  Baldwin  took  it  in  1102,  and  thus  passing  once 
more  into  the  hands  of  seafarers  it  was  rebuilt,  so  that  the 
ruins  of  to-day  are  mostly  of  Crusading  masonry.^    Saladin 

^  ii.  IVars,  xiv.  4. 

2  Mukaddasi  in  the  tenth,  and  Nasir-i-Khusrau  in  the  eleventh,  cent, 
quoted  l)y  Le  Strange,  Fa/,  under  Moslems,  474.  ^  P.E.F.  Mem.  ii. 


1 44    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

won  it  in  1187,  and  reduced  it.^  Richard  took  it  back  in 
1 191,  and  built  it  again.  Louis  of  France  added  fortifica- 
tions. And  then  Sultan  Bibars,  consummating  the  policy 
of  his  race  by  that  destructive  march  of  his  in  1265,  on 
which  every  coast  fortress  was  battered  down,  laid  Caesarea 
low,  and  scattered  its  inhabitants.  It  is  said  that  he 
himself,  pick  in  hand,  assisted  at  its  demolition.^ 

When  we  come  to  deal  with  the  strongholds  of  Samaria, 
we  shall  see  how  Sebaste,  which  is  only  some  twenty-five 
miles  inland  from  Caesarea,  and  has  the  same  western 
exposure,  has  suffered  similar  changes  of  fortune  according 
as  an  Eastern  or  a  Western  race  dominated  the  country. 

^  Boha-ed-din,  Life  of  Saladin,  ch.  35  -  Makrizi. 


CHAPTER    VIII 


THE    MARITIME    PLAIN 


K 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Maps  /.,  /F,,   V.  and  VI. 


THE    MARITIME    PLAIN 

BEYOND  the  forbidding  coast  there  stretches,  as  you 
look  east,  a  prospect  of  plain,  the  Maritime  Plain — 
on  the  north  cut  swiftly  down  upon  by  Carmel,  whose 
headland  comes  within  200  yards  of  the  sea,  but  at 
Carmel's  other  end  six  miles  broad,  and  thence  gradually 
widening  southwards,  till  at  Joppa  there  are  twelve  miles, 
and  farther  south  there  are  thirty  miles  between  the  far 
blue  mountains  of  Judaea  and  the  sea.  The  Maritime 
Plain  divides  into  three  portions.  The  north  corner 
between  Carmel  and  the  sea  is  bounded  on  the  south  by 
the  Crocodile  River,  the  modern  Nahr-el-Zerka,  and  is 
nearly  twenty  miles  long.  From  the  Crocodile  River  the 
Plain   of  Sharon,  widening  from  eight  miles 

'  ^  ^  Sharon. 

to  twelve,  rolls  southward,  forty-four  miles  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Nahr  Rubin  and  a  line  of  low  hills  to 
the  south  of  Ramleh.  This  country  is  undulating,  with 
groups  of  hills  from  250  to  300  feet  high.  To  the  north 
it  is  largely  wild  moor  and  marsh,  with  long  tongues  of 
sand  running  in  from  the  coast.  The  marshes  on  the  Zerka 
are  intricate,  and  form  the  refuge  of  Arabs  who  keep  them- 
selves free  from  the  requisitions  of  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment. There  is  one  large  oak-wood  in  the  very  north,  and 
groves  of  the  same  tree  scatter  southward.  These  are  the 
remains  of  a  forest  so  extensive,  that  it  sometimes  gave  its 

147 


148    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

name  to  the  plain.  The  Septuagint  translates  Sharon  by 
Drunios}  Josephus  describes  it  as  the  '  place  called  the 
Forest,'  ^  or  '  The  Forests,'  ^  and  Strabo  calls  it  '  a  great 
Forest.'*  It  is  the  same  which  the  Crusaders  named 
the  Forest  of  Assur  ;  ^  Tasso  the  Enchanted  Forest,^  and 
Napoleon  the  Forest  of  Miski.''  Scattered  and  ragged  as 
it  now  is,  like  all  the  woodland  of  Palestine,  it  must  origin- 
ally have  swept  all  the  way  from  the  heights  of  Carmel  to 
Ajalon.  Besides  the  streams  mentioned,  the  northern  part 
of  Sharon  is  crossed  by  a  few  other  perennial  waters — the 
Mufjir  or  Dead  River  of  the  Crusaders,^  the  Iskanderuneh 
or  their  Salt  River,  and  the  Falik  or  their  Rochetaille.^ 
In  the  southern  half  of  Sharon,  south  of  the  'Aujeh  and  in 
front  of  the  broad  gulf  of  Ajalon,  there  is  far  more  culti- 
vation— corn-fields,  fields  of  melons,  gardens,  orange-groves, 
and  groves  of  palms,  with  strips  of  coarse  grass  and  sand, 
frequent  villages  on  mounds,  the  once  considerable  towns 
of  Jaffa,  Lydda,  and  Ramleh,  and  the  high  road  running 
among  them  to  Jerusalem.  To  the  south  of  the  low  hills 
Phiiistia  or  that  bouud  Sharou,  the  Plain  of  Philistia  rolls 
Daroma.  ^^  ^^  ^j^g  river  of  Egypt,  about  forty  miles, 
rising  now  and  again  into  gentle  ranges  250  feet  high,  and 
cut  here  and  there  by  a  deep  gully,  with  running  water. 
But  Philistia  is  mostly  level,  nearly  all  capable  of  cultiva- 
tion, with  few  trees,  and  presenting  the  view  of  a  vast 
series  of  corn-fields.     Wells  may  be  dug  almost  anywhere. 

^  Isaiah  xxxv.,  xxxvii.  24,  Ixv.  10.  "  i.   PVhrs,  xiii.  2. 

2  xiv.  AnU.  xiii.  3.  ■*  xvi. :  8pv/j.bs  [liyas  ris. 

^  Vinsauf,  lim.  Rkai-di,  iv.  16.  One  of  the  feudal  manors  of  the  neigli- 
bourhood  was  called  Casale  de  la  Forest.  Rohricht,  Studieti  zur  viittelalt. 
Geog.  u.  Topogr.  Syrieuh  Z.D.P.V.  x.  200. 

®  Gerusalcinme  Liberata,  ii.  and  xiii. 

^  From  the  present  village  of  Miskieh. 

"  But  see  Rohricht  as  above,  p.  251.  ^  Vinsauf,  Itin,  Ric.  iv.  17. 


The  Maritime  Plain  149 

The  only  difficulty  to  agriculture  is  the  drifting  sand, 
which  in  some  places  has  come  two  and  a  half  miles 
inland. 

The  whole  Maritime  Plain  possesses  a  quiet  but  rich 
beauty.  If  the  contours  are  gentle  the  colours  are  strong 
and  varied.  Along  almost  the  whole  seaboard  runs  a  strip 
of  links  and  downs,  sometimes  of  pure  drifting  sand,  some- 
times of  grass  and  sand  together.  Outside  this  border 
of  broken  gold  there  is  the  blue  sea,  with  its  fringe  of 
foam.  Landward  the  soil  is  a  chocolate  brown,  with 
breaks  and  gullies,  now  bare  to  their  dirty  white  shingle 
and  stagnant  puddles,  and  now  full  of  rich  green  reeds 
and  rushes  that  tell  of  ample  water  beneath.  Over  corn 
and  moorland  a  million  flowers  are  scattered — poppies, 
pimpernels,  anemones,  the  convolvulus  and  the  mallow, 
the  narcissus  and  blue  iris — 7'oses  of  Sharon  and  lilies 
of  the  valley.  Lizards  haunt  all  the  sunny  banks.  The 
shimmering  air  is  filled  with  bees  and  butterflies,  and  with 
the  twittering  of  small  birds,  hushed  now  and  then  as  the 
shadow  of  a  great  hawk  blots  the  haze.  Nor  when  dark- 
ness comes  is  all  a  blank.  The  soft  night  is  sprinkled 
thick  with  glittering  fireflies. 

Such  a  plain,  rising  through  the  heat  by  dim  slopes  to 
the  long  persistent  range  of  blue  hills  beyond,  presents 
to-day  a  prospect  of  nothing  but  fruitfulness  openness  of 
and  peace.  Yet  it  has  ever  been  one  of  the  ^^^<^p''1'"- 
most  famous  war-paths  of  the  world.  It  is  not  only  level, 
it  is  open.  If  its  coast-line  is  so  destitute  of  harbours,  both 
its  ends  form  wide  and  easy  entrances.  The  southern 
rolls  oft"  upon  the  great  passage  from  Syria  to  Egypt  ; 
upon  those  illustrious,  as  well  as  horrible,  ten  sandy 
marches    from    Gaza — past    Rafia,     Rhinocoloura,    '  the 


150   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Serbonian  Bog,'  and  the  sands  where  Pompey  was  stabbed 
to  death — to  Pelusium  and  the  Nile.  Of  this  historical 
highway  between  Asia  and  Africa,  along  which  Thothmes, 
Ramses,  Sennacherib,  Cambyses,  Alexander,  Pompey, 
Titus,  Saladin,  Napoleon  and  many  more  great  generals 
have  led  their  armies — of  this  highway  the  Maritime  Plain 
of  Palestine  is  but  the  continuation. 

Nor  is  the  north  end  of  the  plain  shut  in  by  Carmel,  as 
the  view  from  the  sea  clearly  shows.  From  the  sea  the 
The  passao-e  sky-line  of  Carmel,  running  south-east,  does  not 
by  Carmel.  sustain  its  high  level  up  to  the  Central  Range. 
It  is  bow-shaped,  rising  from  the  sea  to  its  centre,  and 
drooping  again  inland.  At  the  sea  end,  under  the  head- 
land, a  beach  of  200  yards  is  left,  and  southwards  there 
is  always  from  a  mile  to  two  miles  between  the  hill-foot 
and  the  shore.  But  this  passage,  though  often  used  by 
armies — by  Richard,  for  instance,  and  by  Napoleon  on  his 
retreat — is  not  the  historical  passage  round  Carmel,  and 
could  not  be.  It  is  broken  by  rocks,  and  extremely 
difficult  to  force  if  defended,  so  that  the  Crusaders  called 
part  of  it  the  House  of  the  Narrow  Ways,  Les  Destroits, 
and  Petra  Incisa.^  It  is  at  the  other,  the  inland,  end  of 
Carmel  that  the  historical  passage  lies.  Here  a  number 
of  low  hills,  with  wide  passes,  and  one  great  valley — the 
Valley  of  Dothan — intervene  between  Carmel  and  the 
Central  Range,  and  offer  several  alternative  routes  from 
the  Maritime  Plain  to  Esdraelon.  Napoleon,  who  followed 
one  of  these  routes  on  his  northern  march,  has  stated 
his  reasons  for  doing  so  in  words  which  emphasise  the 
very   points   we    are    considering :   '  Carmel   se    lie   aux 

^  Vinsauf,  Itiner.  Ricardi,  iv.  12,  14.     Les  Destroits  survives  in  Khurbet 
Dustrey. 


The  Maritime  Plain  151 

montagncs  de  Nablouse,  mais  elle  en  est  separ(5e  par  un 
grand  vallon ' — that  is,  the  low  hills  of  softer  formation, 
whose  subdued  elevation  seems  as  a  valley  between  the 
harder  heights  of  Carmel  and  Samaria.  '  On  a  I'avantage 
de  tourner  Mont  Carmel  par  la  route  qui  suit  la  lisiere  de 
la  plaine  d'Esdrelon ' — that  is,  after  it  reaches  the  water- 
shed— 'au  lieu  que  celle  qui  longe  la  mer  arrive  au  detroit 
de  Haifa ' — that  is,  the  sea-pass  which  the  Crusaders 
called  Les  Destroits — 'passage  difficile  a  forcer  s'il  ^tait 
defendu.'  ^  The  route  Napoleon  chose,  to  the  east  of 
Carmel,  was  of  the  three  which  are  usually  followed  the 
most  westerly,  for  his  goal  was  Acre.  From  the  north 
end  of  Sharon  it  strikes  due  north,  past  Subbarin,  and, 
descending  to  the  east  of  the  Muhrakah,  reaches  Esdraelon 
at  Tell  Keimun.  It  is  the  shortest  road  from  Sharon  and 
Egypt  to  the  Phoenician  cities,  and  is  to-day  followed 
by  the  telegraph  wire.  Another  route  leaves  Sharon 
at  Khurbet  es-Sumrah,  strikes  north-east  up  the  Wady 
'Arah  to  the  watershed  at  'Ain  'Ibrahim,  and  thence 
descends  to  Lejjun,  from  which  roads  branch  to  Naza- 
reth, Tiberias,  and  by  Jezreel  to  Jordan.  A  third,  and 
more  frequented  route,  leaves  Sharon  still  farther  south, 
and,  travelling  almost  due  east  by  a  long  wady,^  emerges 
upon  the  Plain  of  Dothan,  and  thence  descends  north-east 
to  Jenin,  in  Esdraelon.  This  road  is  about  seventeen 
miles  long,  but  for  Beisan  and  the  Jordan  Valley,  it  is 
much  shorter  than  the  route  by  Lejjun,  and  is,  no  doubt, 
the  historical  road  from  Egypt  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan 
and  Damascus.  It  was  on  this  road  near  Dothan  that 
Joseph's  brethren,  having  cast  him  into  a  i^\X.Jif ted  ttp  their 

^  Campagnes  (TAgypte  et  de  Syrie  Memoires  .  .  .  dictees  par  lui-fneine, 
ii.  55.  -  W.  'Abu-Nar,  afterwards  W.  el  Ghamik  and  W.  Wesa. 


1 5  2    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

eyes,  and  behold,  a  company  of  Ishniaelites  came  from  Gilead, 
with  their  camels,  bearing  spicery  and  balm  and  myrrh, 
going  to  ca7'7y  it  down  to  Egypt} 

To  this  issue  of  Sharon  into  Esdraelon,  which  is  hardly 
ever  noticed  in  manuals  of  sacred  geography,  too  much 
Its  historical  attention  cannot  be  paid.  Its  presence  is  felt 
effect.  |-)y  g^jj  ^j-^g  history  of  the  land.     No  pass  had 

more  effect  upon  the  direction  of  campaigns,  the  sites  of 
great  battles,  or  the  limitation  of  Israel's  actual  possessions. 
We  shall  more  fully  see  the  effects  of  it  when  we  come 
to  study  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon.  Here  it  is  enough  to 
mention  such  facts  as  illustrate  the  real  continuity  of 
Esdraelon  and  Sharon.  In  ancient  Egyptian  records  of 
travel  and  invasion,^  names  on  Esdraelon  and  the  Jordan 
are  almost  as  frequent  as  those  on  the  Maritime  Plain, 
and  a  journey  is  recounted  which  took  place  in  a  chariot 
from  the  Lake  of  Galilee  to  Egypt.  On  this  Bethshan 
and  Megiddo,  which  is  Lejjun,  and  Joppa  were  all 
stations.  In  the  Bible  the  Philistines  and  Egyptians  are 
frequently  represented  in  Esdraelon.  It  must  surprise  the 
reader  of  the  historical  books,  that  Saul  and  Jonathan 

^  Gen  xxxvii.  25. 

The  following  are  the  levels  relative  to  these  routes :  The  headland  of 
Carmel  is  some  500  feet  above  the  sea ;  thence  the  ridge  rises,  in  rather  over 
eleven  miles,  to  1810  feet ;  thence  suddenly  sinks  to  800  or  1000,  the  height 
of  the  pass  by  Subbarin  to  Tell  Keimun.  Then  come,  almost  at  right  angles 
to  Carmel,  the  series  of  lower  ranges— for  eight  miles  the  Belad  er-Ruhah, 
'  a  district  of  bare  chalk  downs,  with  an  average  elevation  of  800  feet ' 
{P.E.Fs  Mem.  ii.),  fertile,  but  treeless,  except  on  the  western  slope;  then 
eight  or  ten  miles  of  higher  hills,  some  of  which  reach  1600  feet ;  then 
Dothan,  and  then  the  hills  of  Samaria.  The  watershed  at  'Ain  'Ibrahim, 
where  the  Lejjun  road  crosses,  is  as  high  as  iioo  feet.  Dothan  is  700. 
Sharon,  at  its  margin,  is  200,  and  this  may  be  taken  as  the  level  also  of 
Esdraelon,  though  Lejjun  is  over  400  and  Jenin  over  500. 

2  Travels  of  an  Egyptian,  i.  K.P.,  ii.  107  ff.  ;  Annals  of  Thothmes  III., 
ib.  p.  39  ff.     Cf.  W.  Max-Miiller,  Asien  mid  Enrofa,  p.  195  ff. 


The  Marilime  Plain  153 

should  have  come  so  far  north  as  Gilboa  to  fight  with 
PhiHstines,  whose  border  was  to  the  south  of  them,  and 
that  King  Josiah  should  meet  the  Egyptians  at  Megiddo. 
The  explanation  is  afforded  by  the  easy  passage  of  Sharon 
into  Esdraelon.  The  Philistines  had  come  by  it,  either  to 
make  the  easier  entrance  into  Israel  from  the  north,  or  to 
keep  open  the  great  trade  route  to  Gilead  ;  the  Egyptians 
had  come  by  it,  because  they  were  making  for  Damascus 
and  the  Euphrates. 

Between  these,  its  open  ends,  the  Maritime  Plain  was 
traversed  by  highways,  which  have  followed,  through  all 
ages,  pretty  much  the  same  direction.  Coming  ^j^^  ^^^^^  ^^ 
up  from  Egypt,  the  trunk  road  crossed  the  the  plain. 
Wady  Ghuzzeh  near  Tell  el  'Ajjul — Calf's  Hill — a  favour- 
ite Saracen  camp,^  and  continued  through  Gaza  and  past 
Mejdel  to  Ashdod,  avoiding  the  coast,  for  the  sand  on 
the  Philistine  coast  comes  far  inland,  and  is  loose.  After 
Ashdod  it  forked.  One  branch  struck  through  Jamnia 
to  Joppa,  and  thence  up  the  coast  by  'Arsuf  and  Caesarea 
to  Haifa,^  with  Roman  bridges  over  the  streams.  The 
other  branch,  used  in  the  most  ancient  times,  as  well  as 
by  the  Romans  and  Saracens,  and  still  the  main  caravan 
road  between  Egypt  and  Damascus,  strikes  from  Ashdod 
farther  inland,  by  Ekron  to  Ramleh,  and  thence  travels 
by  Lydda  and  Antipatris  to  the  passes  leading  over  to 
Esdraelon.  This  road  was  joined  by  roads  from  the  hills 
at  Gaza,  Ashdod,  Ramleh — where  the  Beth-horon  road 
from  Jerusalem,  and  another  from  Beit-Jibrin,  through  the 
Shephelah,  came  in, — at  Antipatris, — where  the  road  from 
Jerusalem  to  Caesarea,  by  which  Paul  was  brought  down, 

^  It  was  Saladin's  twice. 

-  According  to  Brugsch,  the  royal  Egyptian  road. 


r  54   TJie  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

crossed  it/  and  near  Gilgal  and  Kakon,  where  passes 
descended  from  Shechem  and  Sebastd  The  inland  high- 
road was  also  joined  by  a  cross-road  from  Joppa  near 
Antipatris.  All  these  roads  were  fairly  well  supplied  with 
water. 

The  natural  obstacles  were  few,  and  easily  turned.     The 

inland  road  avoided  the  streams  and  marshes  which  the 

coast  road  had  to  traverse,  and  which  do  not 

Its  defences. 

seem  to  have  been  bridged  till  the  Romans 
came.  Some  fortresses,  as  in  the  south  the  Philistine 
cities,  and  in  the  north  'Arsuf  and  Caesarea,  might  form 
bases  or  flanks  for  long  lines  of  defence,  but  they  stood 
by  themselves,  and  could  be  easily  turned,  as  Geoffrey 
turned  Caesarea  in  the  First  Crusade.  Strong  lines  were 
drawn  across  the  plain  at  only  two  places  that  we  know  of. 
The  deep,  muddy  bed  of  the  'Aujeh  tempted  Alexander 
Janneus  to  build  a  wall  from  Kapharsaba  to  the  sea  at 
Joppa,  with  wooden  towers  and  intermediate  redoubts  ; 
but  '  Antiochus  soon  burnt  them,  and  made  his  army  pass 
that  way  to  Arabia.'  ^  And,  again,  Saladin's  army,  with 
its  left  on  the  strong  fortress  of  'Arsuf,  and  its  right  on  the 
Samarian  hills,  strove  to  keep  Richard  back,  but  were 
dispersed  after  two  heavy  battles.^  Napoleon's  march  is 
the  one  we  know  in  most  detail.  He  was  under  the 
necessity  of  taking  two  fortresses — Gaza  and  Joppa — and 
was  attacked  by  a  body  of  Samarians  from  Nablus  as 
he  passed  Kakon.  His  experiences  may  be  fairly  taken 
as  those  likely  to  have  happened  to  most  invaders  from 
north  and  south,  except  that  when  it  was  the  Jews  who 

1  The  part  of  this  road  through  the  hill-country  was  traced  by  Ely  Smith 
in  1840,  but  the  level  part  from  Antipatris  to  Caesarea  has  still  to  be 
recovered.  ^  Josephus,  xiii.  Antt.  xv.  i.     Cf.  i.  Wars,  iv.  i. 

2  Vinsauf,  Itiner.  Ricard.  iv.  14-24. 


The  Maritime  Plain  155 

opposed  the  invader,  they  came  down  Ajalon,  and  flung 
themselves  across  his  path  from  Lydda,  Gezer,  and  Joppa. 
We  now  see  why  the  Maritime  Plain  was  so  famous  a 
war-path.  It  is  really  not  the  whole  of  Palestine  which 
deserves  that  name  of  The  Bridge  between  Asia 

The  cam- 

and  Africa ;  it  is  this  level  and  open  coast-  paigns  of  the 
land  along  which  the  embassies  and  armies 
of  the  two  continents  passed  to  and  fro,  not  troubling 
themselves,  unless  they  were  provoked,  with  the  barren 
and  awkward  highlands  to  the  east.  So  Thothmes  passed 
north  to  the  Hittite  frontier  and  the  Euphrates.  So 
Rameses  came.  So,  from  740  to  710,  Tiglath-Pileser, 
Shalmaneser,  and  Sargon  swept  south  across  Jordan  and 
Esdraelon  to  the  cities  of  the  Philistines,  entering  Samaria, 
whose  open  gateways  they  found  at  Jenin  and  Kakon,^ 
but  leaving  Judah  alone.  So,  in  701,  Sennacherib  marched 
his  army  to  the  borders  of  Egypt,  and  detached  a  brigade 
for  the  operations  on  Jerusalem,  which  Isaiah  has  so 
vividly  described.  So  Necho  went  up  to  the  border  of 
Assyria,  and  Nebuchadnezzar  came  down  to  the  border 
of  Egypt.  So  Cambyses  passed  and  left  Judaea  alone. 
So  Alexander  the  Great  passed  between  his  siege  of  Tyre 
and  that  of  Gaza,  and  passed  back  from  Egypt  to  Tyre, 
entering  Samaria  by  the  way  to  punish  the  inhabitants  of 
Shechem.-  So  the  Antiochi  from  Syria  and  the  Ptolemies 
from  Egypt  surged  up  and  down  in  alternate  tides,  carrying 
fire  and  rapine  to  each  other's  borders.  From  their  hills 
the  Jews  could  watch  all  the  spectacle  of  war  between 
them  and  the  sea — the  burning  villages,  the  swift,  busy 
lines   of  chariots   and    cavalry — years   before   Jerusalem 

1  Jenin  on  Esdraelon,  Kakon  on  Sharon. 

-  The  account  of  his  march  into  Jerusalem  is  fictitious. 


156    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

herself  was  threatened.^  When  Judas  Maccabeus  burnt 
the  harbour  and  ships  at  Jamnia,  '  the  h'ght  of  the  fire 
was  seen  at  Jerusalem,  two  hundred  and  forty  stadia  off.'  ^ 
In  Roman  times  legions  marched  and  countermarched  too 
often  to  mention  ;  and  they  made  great  roads,  and  bridged 
the  streams  with  bridges,  some  of  which  last  to  this  day. 

In  the  first  Moslem  assaults  the  Maritime  Plain  bore  less 
of  the  brunt  than  the  eastern  parts  of  the  land,  but  in  the 
European  invasions  of  the  eleventh  to  the  thirteenth  cen- 
turies it  was  again,  as  in  Greek  and  Roman  times,  scoured 
by  war.  While  Geoffrey  and  the  First  Crusade  passed 
unhindered  from  Haifa  to  Ramleh,^  Richard  and  the  Third 
Crusade  had  to  skirmish  every  league  of  the  way  with 
an  enemy  that  harassed  them  from  the  Samarian  valleys, 
and  to  fight  one  great  battle  under  Arsuf,  and  another  on 
the  east  of  Joppa.*  In  the  Philistine  Plain  innumerable 
conflicts,  sieges,  and  forays  took  place,  for  while  the  Latin 
kingdom  of  Jerusalem  lasted,  it  met  here  the  assaults  of 
the  Egyptian  Moslems,  and  when  Richard  came  he  had 
here  at  once  to  repel  the  sallies  of  the  Moslem  from 
Jerusalem,  and  intercept  the  aid  coming  to  them  from 
Egypt.  In  1265  Bibars  came  north,  and  one  by  one  de- 
molished the  fortresses  so  thoroughly,  that  some  of  them, 
like  Askalon  and  Caesarea,  famous  for  centuries  before, 
have  been  desolate  ever  since.  But  perhaps  this  garden  of 
the  Lord  was  never  more  violated  than  when  Napoleon,  in 
the  springof  1799,  brought  up  his  army  from  Egypt,orwhen, 
in  the  heat  of  summer,  he  retreated,  burning  the  towns 
and  harvests  of  Philistia  and  massacring  his  prisoners.^ 

'  Isa.  V.  26  ff.  -  2  Mace.  xii.  9.     The  real  distance  is  about  300  stadia. 

^  William  of  Tyre,  vii.  22.  ■*  Vinsauf,  Ilin.  Ricardi,  as  above. 

'^  Op.  cit.  ii.   109.     Wittmann,  Travels,  pp.  128,  136, 


The  Mar itmie  Plain  157 

It  was  not  only  war  which  swept  the  Maritime  Plain. 
The  Plague  also  came  up  this  way  from  Egypt.  Through- 
out antiquity  the  north-east  corner  of  the  ^^^^ 
Delta  was  regarded  with  reason  as  the  home 
of  the  Plague.  The  natural  conditions  of  disease  were 
certainly  prevalent.  The  eastern  mouth  of  the  Nile  then 
entered  the  sea  at  Pelusium,  and  supplied  a  great  stretch 
of  mingled  salt  and  fresh  water  under  a  high  temperature.^ 
To  the  west  there  is  the  swampy  Delta  ;  and  on  the 
Asiatic  side  sand-hills,  with  only  brackish  wells.  Along 
the  coast  there  appear  to  have  been  always  a  number  of 
lagoons,  separated  from  the  sea  by  low  bars  of  sand,  and 
used  as  salt-pans.^  In  Greek  and  Roman  times  the  largest 
of  these  was  known  as  the  Serbonian  Bog  or  Marsh.^  It 
had  a  very  evil  repute.  The  dry  sand  blowing  across  it 
gave  it  the  appearance  of  solid  ground,  which  was  sufficient 
to  bear  those  who  ventured  on  it,  only  till  they  were 
beyond  flight  or  rescue,  and  it  swallowed  part  of  more  than 
one  unfortunate  army.*  In  Justinian's  time,  the  'Bog' 
was  surrounded  by  communities  of  salt-makers  and  fish- 
curers  ;  filthy  villages  of  under-fed  and  imbecile  people, 
who  always  had  disease  among  them.^  The  extremes  of 
temperature  are  excessive.  It  was  a  very  similar  state  of 
affairs  to  that  which  has  been  observed  in  connection  with 
the  recent  outbreak  of  plague  in  Astrakhan.^     Now  all 

1  Always  accompanied  by  fevers,  as  round  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

^  Cf.  Martin  Baumgarten's  Travels {i^o"])  in  Churchhill's  Collection,  i. 410. 

^  \ip.vrt  ^ep^wvh,  Strabo,  vii.  59,  and  Diod.  Sic.  ;  Serbonis  Laais,  Pliny, 
A'at.  Hist.  V.  13.  Cf.  Ptol.  iv.  5,  §  12,  20.  It  lay  parallel  to  the  sea,  and  was 
about  200  stadia  by  50. 

*  Dio.  Sic.  i,  5  gives  a  graphic  account  of  this.  Artaxerxes  Mnemon  lost 
part  of  his  army  here  in  350.  ^  Gibbon. 

^  On  the  Outbreak  of  Plague  in  Astrakhan,  1S78-79,  by  Dr.  Giovanni 
Cabriadus,  Transactions  of  the  Epidemiological  Society,  vol.  iv.,  pt.  iv.  449. 
Cf.  on  the  same  subject  the  Reports  of  the  German  and  English  Conitnissious, 
ib.  vol.  iv.  362,  276. 


158    The  Hist  one  al  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

armies  coming  from  the  north  reached  these  unhealthy 
conditions,  exhausted  by  an  arduous  march  across  the 
desert.  Coming  from  the  south,  armies  picked  up  the 
infection,  with  the  possibiHty  of  its  breaking  out  after 
the  heat  of  the  desert  was  passed,  in  the  damper  cHmate 
of  Syria.  Their  camps,  their  waste  and  offal,  with  an 
occasional  collapse  of  their  animals  in  a  sandstorm,  were 
frequent  aggravations.^ 

Relevant  instances  are  not  few  in  history.  Here  Senna- 
cherib's victorious  army  was  infected  by  pestilence,  and 
melted  northwards  like  a  cloud  ;  here  in  Justinian's  time 
the  Plague  started  more  than  once  a  course  right  across  the 
world  ;  here  a  Crusading  expedition  showed  symptoms  of 
the  Plague  ;  here,  in  1799,  Napoleon's  army  was  infected 
and  carried  the  disease  into  Syria  :  while  the  Turkish  force 
that  marched  south,  in  1801,  found  the  Plague  about  Jaffa 
and  in  the  Delta.^ 

These  facts  probably  provide  us  with  an  explanation  of 
two  records  of  disease  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  Philis- 
tines, who  occupied  the  open  door  by  which  the  infection 
entered  Syria,^  were  struck  at  a  time  they  were  in  camp 

^  Baumgarten  in  1507  saw  such  a  collapse  :  '  10,000  sheep  and  asses  and 
other  creatures  lying  on  the  ground  rotten  and  half  consumed,  the  noisome 
smell  of  which  was  so  insufferable  that  we  were  obliged  to  make  all  haste  ; '  it 
was  a  collection  of  herds  which  the  Sultan  of  Egypt  had  caused  to  be  seized 
in  Syria  in  default  of  the  Syrian  tribute.  Cf.  the  similar  tribute  which  Isaiah 
describes  as  going  down  to  Egypt  through  the  same  dangers,  xxx.  6  :  Oracle 
0/  the  beasts  of  the  Negeb.     See  Wittmann,  as  below,  pp.  122  f. 

-  On  Sennacherib,  see  the  author's  Isaiah  i.  On  the  Plague  in  Justinian's 
time,  Evagrius,  xxix.  ;  Gibbon,  xliii.  ;  on  Napoleon,  the  Memoirs  of  Ca9>i- 
paigns  already  cited  ;  V^aXsh,  Journal  of  the  late  Campaign  in  Egypt,  1S03,  p. 
136;  especially  Wittmann,  Travels,  chs.  viii.,  x.,  xi.  on  Plague  and  Ophthalmia 
in  Maritime  Plain.  Volney,  who  says  {Travels,  i.  253)  that  the  Plague 
always  appears  on  the  coast,  and  is  brought  from  Greece  and  Syria,  is  giving 
a  mistaken  account  of  the  fact  that  its  home  is  in  NE.  corner  of  the  Delta. 

^  All  the  Commissioners  of  Inquiry  on  the  Plague  of  Astrakhan  were  not 


The  Maritime  Plain  1 59 

against  Israel  by  two  strong  symptoms  of  the  Plague — 
tumours  in  the  groin  and  sudden  and  numerous  deaths.^ 
Among  the  Israelites,  again,  the  only  country  which  gave 
its  name  to  a  disease  was  Egypt.  All  the  sore  sicknesses 
of  Egypt  of  which  thou  art  afraid  \s  a  curse  in  the  Book  of 
Deuteronomy,  which  is  eloquent  of  the  sense  of  frequent 
infection  from  that  notorious  quarter.  One  of  these  sick- 
nesses is  specified  as  the  Boil  or  Tumour  of  Egypt?-  That 
it  occurs  in  the  singular  number  may,  of  course,  be  due  to 
its  being  a  continuous  eruption  on  the  body,  but  it  seems 
rather  to  mean  a  solitary  tumour,  and  it  is  interesting  that 
in  recent  instances  of  the  pestilence,  the  tumours  have 
generally  been  one  on  each  person,  while  in  India  a  local 
name  for  the  Plague  is  The  Boil.^ 

However  this  may  be,  it  seems  certain  that  Israel  was 

equally  convinced  as  to  whether  the  infection  can  be  carried  by  clothes,  but 
the  Germans  had  no  doubt  that  this  outbreak  was  caused  by  the  carriage  to 
the  district  of  spoil  of  war.  —  Trans,  of  Epidetn.  Soc.  iv.  376  ff.,  Report  of 
German  Commission  ;  cf.  77ie  Account  of  ike  Endemic  Plague  in  India,  ib.  p. 
391,  where  it  is  said  that  it  is  traders  who  are  mostly  attacked. 

^  The  name  of  the  thing  with  which  they  were  smitten,  D^PSJ?  'opholim, 
means  swellings  or  boils,  1  Sam.  v.  6,  9,  12  ;  and  the  offerings  made  to  avert 
the  calamity  were  not  only  golden  boils  but  golden  mice,  the  symbol  of  the 
Plague,  ib.  vi.  5.  Cf.  Herodotus'  account  of  the  disaster  to  Sennacherib, 
in  which  mice  play  a  part,  ii.  I.  The  disease  with  which  Napoleon's  army 
was  attacked  in  Philistia  was  precisely  the  same — a  very  fatal yft^zr^  ^  biibons. 

-  All  the  sore  sicknesses  of  Egypt,  Deut.  vii.  15,  xxviii.  60;  pestilence 
in  the  way,  or  after  the  ma7iner,  of  Egypt,  Amos  iv.  10.  The  Boil 
( =  |Tll5'  Shehin)  is  applied  both  to  a  single  tumour  like  a  carbuncle,  as  in 
2  Kings  XX.  7,  and  to  an  extensive  eruption  and  swelling  of  the  skin,  as  in 
Job  ii.  7,  where  it  is  supposed  to  be  elephantiasis.  In  Deut.  xxviii.  35  it 
means  some  extensive  disease  of  the  skin. 

^  Trans,  of  the  Epidem.  Soc,  iv.,  pt.  i.  129  ff.  On  Plague  and  Typhus 
Fever  in  India,  Surgeon-General  Murray.  On  solitary  tumours,  see  ib. 
Report  of  German  Commission  on  the  Astrakhan  Plague,  p.  376,  and  the  cases 
specified  by  Dr.  Cabriadus  in  the  same  Transactions,  iv.,  pt.  iv.  p.  449,  and 
Surgeon-Major  Colville's  Notes  on  Plague  in  Province  of  Baghdad,  ib.  iv., 
pt.  i.  p.  9,  where  in  many  the  sign  of  Plague  was  an  enlargement  of  tjlans  in 
groin  or  armpit.     See  Additional  Note,  p.  670. 


1 60   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

sometimes  attacked  by  epidemics,  which,  starting  from  the 
north-east  corner  of  Egypt,  travelled  by  the  short  desert 
route  to  Syria,  and  passed  up  the  avenues  of  trade  from 
the  Maritime  Plain.  The  Philistines,  as  traders,  would 
stand  in  special  danger  of  infection. 

These,  then,  were  the  contributions  of  the  Maritime  Plain 
to  the  history  of  Israel.  It  was  a  channel  always  busy 
with  Commerce,  and  often  scoured  by  War  and  the  Plague. 

The  positions  of  the  cities  of  the  Maritime  Plain  are  of 

extreme  interest.     We  have  surveyed  those  on  the  coast. 

Those   inland    arrange    themselves    into   two 

Cities  of  the 

Maritime  groups.  Commg  from  the  north,  we  find  no 
inland  town  of  any  consequence  till  the  'Aujeh 
is  passed,  and  then  all  at  once  the  first  group  appear  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Vale  of  Ajalon.  The  second  group  are 
separated  from  these  by  the  low  hills  on  the  Nahr  Rubin, 
and  consist  of  the  towns  of  Philistia. 

It  is,  of  course,  the  incoming  Vale  of  Ajalon  that  explains 
the  first  group — Ramleh,  and  Lydda  and  her  sisters,  with, 

v^aiiey  of  the  Perhaps,  Antipatris.    Lydda,  or  Lod,  with  Ono, 

Smitiis.  ^  little  farther  out  on  the  plain,  and  Hadid, 
on  the  edge  of  the  hills  behind,  formed  the  most  westerly 
of  the  Jewish  settlements  after  the  Exile.  The  returned 
Jews  naturally  pushed  down  the  only  broad  valley  from 
Jerusalem  till  they  touched  the  edge  of  the  great  thorough- 
fare which  sweeps  past  it.  The  site  of  their  settlements 
here  is  described  as  the  Ge-haharashim — the  Valley  of  the 
Smiths  or  Craftsmen.  It  is  surely  a  recollection  of  the 
days  when  there  was  no  harash  in  Israel,  but  the  Hebrews 
came  down  to  the  Philistine  border  to  get  their  plough- 
shares and  their  mattocks  sharpened.^     The  frontier  posi- 

^  I  Sam.  xi.i.  19.     Lod,  Ono,  and  Hadid  are  not  given  in  Joshua  (only  in 


The  JMaritime  Plain  t6i 

tion  of  Lydda  —  according  to  Joscphus,  'a  village  not 
less  than  a  city' — made  it  the  frequent  subject  of  battle 
and  treaty  between  the  Jews  and  their  succes- 

Lydda. 

sive  enemies.^  Like  all  the  other  inland  towns 
of  Sharon,  it  appears  never  to  have  been  fortified.  It  was, 
as  we  have  seen,  one  of  the  centres  of  Jewish  feeling 
throughout  Roman  times,  and  after  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  it  formed  a  refuge  of  the  religious  leaders  of 
Judaism.  After  one  or  other  of  those  revolts  of  despair, 
into  which  the  Jews  burst  during  the  second  and  third 
centuries,  Lydda  was  emptied  of  everything  Jewish,  and 
made  pagan,  under  the  name  of  Diospolis.^  Judaism 
disappeared,  but  Christianity  survived,  and  finally  got  the 
upper  hand.  There  was  a  Bishop  of  Diospolis  in  the 
fourth  century,  and  a  Synod  of  Diospolis,  at  which  Pela- 
gius   was   tried,  early  in   the   fifth.^     The  chief  Christian 

I  Chron.  viii.  12) ;  but  Ezra  ii.  33  implies  that  they  were  Jewish  towns  before 
the  exile,  cf.  Neh.  vii.  37.  Neh.  xi.  35  relates  their  rebuilding,  and  gives 
us  the  name  of  the  district,  D''P'"irin  ''_3 — LXX.,  7^ ' Apoo-etyu..    Conder  suggests 

that  Harashim  'survives  in  the  present  Hirshah,'  P.E.F.Q.,  1878,  18. 

^  Especially  between  the  Syrians  and  the  Jews,  and  the  Romans  and  the 
Jews.  It  was  confirmed  by  Ptolemy  to  Jonathan  Maccabeus,  i  Mace.  xi.  34, 
and  by  Czesar,  with  the  right  to  make  it  thoroughly  Jewish,  xiv.  Atttt.  x.  6. 
It  was  the  capital  of  a  toparchy,  iii.  Wars,  iii.  5.  For  its  adherence  to  the 
national  side,  witness  its  occupation  by  Cestius  Gallus  (see  p.  138),  as  also  by 
Vespasian,  iv.  Wars,  vi.  That  the  latter  li'fet  with  no  opposition  was  due  to 
the  town's  want  of  fortification. 

2  This  is  usually  supposed  to  have  happened  as  early  as  Hadrian's  time, 
when  Jerusalem  was  desecrated.  But  Schlatter,  Zitr  Topographic  u.  Geschichte 
Paliistinas,  No.  2,  sets  the  change  of  name  under  Septimius  Severus  about 
the  year  202  a.d.,  when  Beit-Jibrin  also  was  put  under  a  Greek  name.  The 
earliest  coins  that  have  been  found  of  Diospolis  bear  the  legend  '  L.  Septimia 
Severa  Diospolis.'  Eusebius  and  Jerome  still  know  it  under  that  name, 
though,  strange  to  say,  neither  Diospolis  nor  Lydda  is  the  subject  of  a 
special  article  in  the  Onoinastkon,  but  the  name  Diospolis  occurs  only  in 
fixing  the  position  of  towns  like  Arimathea,  Addara,  Adithaim,  etc. 

*  415.     He  got  oft,  to  the  wrath  of  Jerome  :  Dialogi  adv.  Pel. 

L 


1 62    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

interest  of  Lydda,  however,  centres  round  her  St.  George. 

There  is  no  hero  whom  we  shall   more   frequently   meet 

in    Palestine,    and    especially  east  of  Jordan. 

St.  George. 

Indeed,  among  all  the  saints,  there  has  been 
none  with  a  history  like  this  one,  who,  from  obscure  origins 
became  not  only  the  virtual  patron  of  Syrian  Christendom, 
and  an  object  of  Mohammedan  reverence,  but  patron  as 
well  of  the  most  western  of  all  Christian  peoples.  St. 
George  of  Lydda  is  St.  George  of  England  ;  he  is  also  a 
venerated  personage  in  Moslem  legend.  For  this  triple  fame 
he  has  to  thank  his  martyrdom  on  the  eve  of  the  triumph 
of  Christianity  (to  the  early  Church  George  is  Megalo- 
martyr  and  Tropaiophoros) ;  the  neighbourhood  of  his 
shrine  to  the  scene  of  a  great  Greek  legend  ;  the  removal 
of  his  relics  to  Zorava,  in  Hauran,  where  his  name 
spread  with  great  rapidity  ;  and  the  effect  of  all  this,  his 
Syrian  reputation,  first  upon  the  Moslems  before  they 
became  impervious  to  Christian  influences,  and  then  on 
the  Crusaders  at  a  crisis  in  their  first  invasion.  The 
original  George  was  a  soldier  of  good  birth,  and  served 
as  a  military  tribune  under  Diocletian.  In  303  he  was 
martyred.  According  to  some,  Lydda  was  the  scene  of 
his  martyrdom  ;  others  place  there  the  property  of  his 
family,  but  say  that  he  suffered  in  Nicomedia.^  In  either 
case  Lydda  received  his  relics ;  through  the  following 
centuries  pilgrims  visited  his  tomb  in  the  town,"  and  there 

1  Easebius,  Eccl.  Hist.  viii.  5,  tells  of 'a  certain  man  of  no  mean  origin, 
but  highly  esteemed  for  his  temporal  dignities,'  who,  in  Nicomedia,  tore  down 
Diocletian's  edicts  against  Christianity,  and  then  heroically  met  death. 

2  Antonini  Placentini  Itincrarium  {cir.  570),  c.  25  :  '  Diospolis  ...  in 
qua  requiescit  Georgius  martyr. '  The  same  sentence  confounds  Diospolis  with 
Ashdod  and  Csesarea.  Arculf,  before  683,  Willibald,  728,  and  Bernard,  865, 
also  mention  the  tomb.  The  church  does  not  appear  to  have  been  dedicated 
to  St.  George  ;  travellers  quote  only  the  monastery  and  the  tomb. 


The  Mar itivic  Plain  163 

was  a  monastery  dedicated  to  him.  A  church  had  stood 
in  Lydda  from  the  cadiest  times,  but  it  was  destroyed 
on  the  approach  of  the  First  Crusade.  A  new  cathedral 
was  built  by  the  Crusaders  over  the  tomb,  and  partly 
because  of  this,  but  also  in  gratitude  for  the  supernatural 
intervention  of  the  saint  in  their  favour  at  Antioch,  they 
dedicated  it  to  him.  It  was  a  great  pile  of  building, 
capable  of  being  used  as  a  fortress.  So,  on  the  approach 
of  Richard,  Saladin  destroyed  it.  Richard,  who  did  more 
than  any  man  to  identify  St.  George  with  England,^  is  said 
to  have  rebuilt  the  church  ;  but  there  is  no  record  of  the 
fact,  and  it  is  much  more  likely  that  the  great  bays  which 
the  traveller  of  to-day  admires  are  the  ruins  that  Saladin 
made.^  By  Crusading  times  the  name  of  the  saint  had 
displaced  both  Diospolis  and  Lydda,  and  the  town  might 
have  been  called  St.  George  till  now  but  for  the  break  in 
Christian  pilgrimage  from  the  sixteenth  to  the  eighteenth 
centuries.^  The  Arabs  have  perpetuated  the  Hebrew  name 
Lod  in  their  Ludd. 

The  connection  of  St.  George  with  a  dragon  can  be 
traced  to  the  end  of  the  sixth  century.  It  was  probably 
due  to  two  sources — to  the  coincidence  of  the 

•      r  -11  •  1        r    ^'-  George 

rise  of  the  martyrs  fame  with  the  triumph  of  and  the 

^1     •     •       •  •  1  i\/r   /-•I  .     Dragon. 

Christianity  over  paganism,  and,  as  M.  Clermont 

Ganneau  has  forcibly  argued,  to  the  conveyance  to  St. 

George  of  the  legend  of  Perseus  and  Andromeda.     It  was 

^  II  was  under  Edward  HI.  that  St.  George  became  patron  of  England. 

-  Vinsauf  is  silent.  Robinson's  reasons  against  Richard's  building  seem 
conclusive,  Bib,  Kcs.  iii.  54  f.;  De  Vogiie,  Les  Eglises  de  la  Terre  Saiiitc, 
363  fT.  with  plans.     Cf.  Phocas,  39;  Bohaeddin,  ch.  121. 

•*  So  in  Crusading  documents  (Z.D.P.  I',  x.  215),  but  even  as  late  as  in  1506, 
in  Die  Jeriisalciitfahrt  dcs  Caspar  von  Alulinen:  '  Und  reit  der  Ilerre  fon 
Ramen  und  der  Herre  fon  Sant  Joergcn  una-  gon  Jaffen'  [Z.D.P.V, 
xi.  195^. 


164    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lydda — at  Arsuf  or  Joppa — that 
Perseus  slew  the  sea-monster  which  threatened  the  virgin  ; 
and  we  know  how  often  Christian  saints  have  been  served 
heir  to  the  fame  of  heathen  worthies  who  have  preceded 
them  in  the  reverence  of  their  respective  provinces.  But 
the  legend  has  an  even  more  interesting  connection.  The 
Mohammedans,  who  usually  identify  St.  George  with  the 
prophet  Elijah — El  Khudr,  the  forerunner  of  Messiah — at 
Lydda  confound  his  legend  with  another  about  Christ 
Himself  Their  name  for  Antichrist  is  Dajjal,  and  they 
have  a  tradition  that  Jesus  will  slay  Antichrist  by  the  gate 
of  Lydda.  This  notion  sprang  from  an  ancient  bas-relief 
of  St.  George  and  the  Dragon  on  the  Lydda  church.  But 
Dajjal  may  be  derived,  by  a  very  common  confusion 
between  n  and  /,  from  Dagon,  whose  name  two  neighbouring 
villages — Dajun  and  Bet  Dajon — bear  to  this  day,  while 
one  of  the  gates  of  Lydda  used  to  be  called  the  Gate  of 
Dagon.^  If  the  derivation  be  correct,  then,  it  is  indeed  a 
curious  process  by  which  the  monster,  symbolic  of  heathen- 
ism conquered  by  Christianity,  has  been  evolved  out  of  the 
first  great  rival  of  the  God  of  Israel.  And  could  there 
be  a  fitter  scene  for  such  a  legend  than  the  town  where 
Hebrew  touched  Philistine,  Jew  struggled  with  Greek,  and 
Christendom  contested  with  Islam  ?  To-day  the  popula- 
tion is  mostly  Mohammedan,  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
cathedral  a  mosque ;  but  there  is  still  a  Christian  con- 
gregation in  Lydda,  who  worship  in  the  nave  and  an  aisle  ; 
and  once  a  year,  on  the  anniversary  of  their  great  saint, 
whom  even  the  Moslems  reverence,  they  are  permitted  to 
celebrate  Mass  at  the  high  altar  over  his  tomb.^ 

^  Clermont  Ganneau,  P.E.F.  Mem.  ii. 

2  For  such  details  of  the  above  as  are  not  in  M.  Clermont  Ganneau's  papers 
I  am  indehted  to  Q\\.e.\m!i  Jiidce,  i. 


The  Mai' it  I  me  Plain  165 

About  700  Lydda  suffered  one  of  her  many  overthrows. 
The  Arab  general  ^  who  was  the  cause  saw  the  necessity 
of  building  another  town  in  the  neighbourhood 

...  .  .    ,  '  ,     -  Ramleh. 

to  command  the  junction  or  the  roads  from  the 
coast  to  the  interior  with  the  great  caravan  route  from 
Egypt  to  Damascus.  He  chose  a  site  nearly  three  miles 
from  Lydda,  and  called  the  town  Ramleh,  '  the  sandy,' 
and,  indeed,  there  is  no  other  feature  to  characterise  it. 
Like  the  cathedrals  of  the  plains  of  Europe,  the  mosque  of 
Ramleh  has  a  lofty  tower,  from  which  all  the  convergent 
roads  may  be  surveyed  for  miles.  Ramleh  was  once 
fortified.  It  suffered  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  wars  of 
the  Crusades,  and  since  it  became  Mohammedan,  in  1266, 
its  Christian  convent  has  continued  to  provide  shelter  to 
pilgrims  on  the  road  to  Jerusalem." 

From  Ramleh  it  is  a  long  way  back  in  time  to  Anti- 
patris.  Antipatris  was  one  of  the  creations  of  Herod,  and 
appears  to  have  been  built  not  as  a  fortress, 

,  ,  .  ,  ^  .  Antipatris. 

but  as  a  pleasant  residence.  Its  site  was 
probably  not  where  Robinson  placed  it,  at  the  present 
Kefr  Saba,  but  southward,  near  the  present  El-Mir.  Here 
is  all  the  wealth  of  water  which  Josephus  describes,  as  well 
as  sufficient  ruins  to  demonstrate  that  the  site  was  once  a 
place  of  importance.^ 

1  Suleiman,  son  of  the  Khalif  'Abd-el-Melek,  according  to  Alnilfeda. 

-  Pilgrims  used  to  wait  here  till  the  frequently  delayed  permission  was 
granted  them  to  go  on  to  Jerusalem.     Felix  P'abri,  i.,  etc.,  etc, 

'^  See  Robinson,  Bib.  Res.  ii.  45-47.  The  credit  of  the  discovery  of  the 
other  site  is  due  to  the  I'.E.F.  Survey  under  Conder  (see  P.E.F.  Mem. 
ii.  258  ff.).  Though  in  one  passage  Josephus  says  Antipatris  was  on  the  site 
of  Kefr  Saba  (xvi.  Antt.  v.  2),  in  another  he  describes  it  more  generally  as  in 
the  Plain  of  Kefr  Saba  (ii.  Wars,  xxi.  9). 


CHAPTER   IX 
THE  PHILISTINES  AND  THEIR  CITIES 


167 


For  this  Chapter  lonsuli  Maps  I.  and  IV. 


THE  PHILISTINES  AND  THEIR  CITIES 

THE  singularity  and  importance  of  the  Palestine  towns 
demand  their  separation  from  the  rest  of  the  Mari- 
time Plain,  and  their  treatment  in  a  chapter  by  them- 
selves. 

The  chief  cities  of  the  Philistine  League  were  five — 
Gaza,  'Askalon,'Ashdod,  'Ekron,  and  Gath;  but  Jamneh,  or 
Jamniel,  is  generally  associated  with  them.  Only  one — 
'Askalon — is  directly  on  the  sea  ;  the  others  dominate  the 
trunk-road  which,  as  we  have  seen,  through  Philistia  keeps 
inland.  None  of  them  lie  north  of  the  low  hills  by  the 
Nahr  Rubin.  These  two  facts,  with  the  well-known  dis- 
tinction of  the  Philistines  from  the  Canaanites  or  Phoeni- 
cians, point  to  an  immigration  from  the  south  and  an 
interest  in  the  land  trade. 

This  is  confirmed  by  all  that  we  know  of  the  history  of 
this  strange  people.     In  the  LXX.  the  name  Philistines 
is   generally  translated    by   Allophuloi  (Vulg.    ^i^^  ^^^^ 
aliegencs)   '  aliens ' ;    and    it   has    suggested   a    ^'hii'simes. 
derivation  hovcx  falash,  Zi  Semitic  root, 'to  migrate.'^     In 
the  Old  Testament  there  is  a  very  distinct  memory  of 

^  The  name  was  not  given  by  the  Semiles,  Hebrews,  or  Canaanites.  That 
it  was  the  Philistines'  name  for  themselves  appears  from  its  use  by  all  other 
peoples  who  came  into  connection  with  them.  In  the  Egyptian  inscriptions 
it  is  Purasati ;  in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  it  is  Pulistav  and  Pilista  ;  Schrader, 
K.A.'I'.,  I02,  103,  where  there  is  an  interesting  argument  to  show  that  by 


r/o   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

such  a  migration  :  O  children  of  Israel,  saith  Jehovah,  have 
I  not  brought  up  Israel  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  the 
Philistines  from  Kaphtor,  and  the  Syrians  from  Kir  ?  The 
Kaphtorim,  which  came  forth  from  Kaphtor,  destroyed  the 
Avim,  which  dwelt  in  open  villages  as  far  as  Gaza,  and 
dwelt  in  their  stead}  Where  the  Philistines  came  from, 
and   what   they  originally   were,   is   not   clear. 

Their  origin.  ,  r  t^  ^    • 

That  they  moved  up  the  coast  irom  ligypt  is 
certain;-  that  they  came  from  Kaphtor  is  also  certain. 
But  it  by  no  means  follows,  as  some  argue,  that  Kaphtor 
and  Egypt  are  the  same  region.^  On  the  contrary,  Kaphtor 
seems  to  be  outside  Egypt;*  and  as  the  Philistines  are 

Pilista  the  Assyrians  meant  Judah  as  well  as  the  Philistine  cities — a  remarkable 
precedent  for  what  happened  in  Greek  times,  when  the  name  of  Philistia  was 
extended  across  the  whole  country  behind.  Pelesheth  has  a  Semitic  appear- 
ance which  Pelishtim,  showing  the  root  to  be  quadriliteral,  has  not.  The 
name  is  supposed  to  survive  in  the  names  of  several  localities  in  the  Shephelah 
hills— at  Keratiyeh  el  Fenish  by  Beit-Jibrin,  Arak  el  Fenish,  Bestan  el 
Fenish— also  at  Latrun,  Soba,  Amwas,  and  Khurbet  Ikbala.  All  these  places 
are  on  the  borderland  of  ancient  Philistia,  and  the  name  does  not  occur  else- 
where.    See  Conder  in  P.E.F.  Mem.  vol.  iii.  294. 

1  Amos  ix.  7  ;  Deut.  ii.  23. 

2  From  the  unlikelihood  of  their  landing  on  the  coast,  from  the  traces  in 
the  Old  Testament  of  their  settlement  to  the  south  of  Gaza  before  they  occu- 
pied it  (the  stories  of  the  patriarchs  and  Book  of  Joshua),  and  from  Gen.  x.  14, 
whether  you  read  the  clause  in  brackets  where  it  stands,  or  at  the  end  of  the 
verse.  The  Pathrusim  and  Casluhim  are  practically  Egypt ;  ozit  of  whom 
should  be  whence.     But  some  take  this  clause  as  a  gloss. 

'  Egyptologists  like  Ebers  {^gyp/en  u.  die  Biicher  JSIosis)  and  Sayce 
{Races  of  the  O.T.,  53-54,  127,  a  popular  statement)  assert  that  Kaphtor  is 
Kaft-ur,  'the  greater  Phoenicia,'  applied  to  the  Delta  by  the  Egyptians. 
But  see  p.  197.  Before  this  Reland  (p.  74)  had  placed  Kaphtor  'in  ora 
Maritima  ^gypti  contra  Pelusium,'  and  '  suspected'  a  connection  between  the 
names  Pelusium  and  Pelesheth.  Cf.  Plutarch's  Z)e /«f^  C«W,  xvii.,  which 
speaks  of  a  youth,  Pelusius  or  Palsestinus,  after  whom  Iris  names  Pelusium. 

•*  I  cannot  think  that  if  Kaphtor  had  been  part  of  the  Delta,  it  would  have 
been  given  as  distinct  from  Egypt,  in  Amos  ix.  8.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
reason  given  by  Dillmann  (on  Gen.  x.  14),  that  ^X  is  applied  to  Kaphtor  in 
Jer.  xlvii.  4,  is  not  conclusive,  for  i^  is  also  applicable  to  the  Delta  coast. 


The  P/iilislines  and  iJieir  Cities  1 7  i 

also  called  Kerethim,^  and  the  connection  between  Egypt 
and  Crete  was  always  a  close  one,  and  certain  traditions 
trace  the  inhabitants  of  Palestine  to  Crete,  it 

•  1      1  Kaphtor. 

appears  more  safe  to  identify  Kaphtor  with  that 
island,-  But  to  have  traced  the  Philistines  to  Crete  is  not  to 
have  cleared  up  their  origin,  for  early  Crete  was  full  of  tribes 
from  both  east  and  west.^  The  attempt  has  been  made 
to  derive  the  name  Philistine  from  the  Pelasgians,  or  from 
a  Pelasgic  clan  called  Peneste,  and  to  prove  in  detail  that 
Philistine  names  and  institutions  are  Aryan.^  But  Crete 
shows  signs  of  having  been  once  partly  colonised  by 
Semites,  and  it  is  possible  that  some  of  these,  after  a  long 
contact  with  Greek  tribes,  returned  eastward.^  In  that 
case  their  natural  goal,  as  with  the  eastward-faring  Greeks, 
would  be,  not  the  harbourless  coast  of  South  Syria,  but  the 
mouths  of  the  Nile.  Now,  the  little  that  we  know  of  the 
Philistines,  while  not,  indeed,  proving  such  a  theory,  does 

'  Zepli.  ii.  5  ;  Ezek.  xxiv.     Cf.  1  Sam.  x.\.  14. 

2  That  Kaphtor  is  not  mentioned  in  Gen.  x.  4,  with  other  Mediterranean 
islands,  as  a  son  of  Javan,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  Crete  was  regarded  as  con- 
nected, not  with  the  north,  but  with  the  south  coast  of  the  Mediterranean. 
It  is  scarcely  necessary  now  to  say  that  the  arrangement  in  Gen.  x.  is  not 
ethnological,  but  mainly  geographical.  The  traditions  referred  to  in  the  text 
are  the  connection  which  the  inhabitants  of  Gaza  alleged  between  their  god 
Mama  and  the  Cretan  Jove,  and  the  statement  in  Tacitus,  Hist.  v.  2: 
'Judseos  Creta  insula  profugos,  novissima  Libya:  insedisse,  memorant,  qua 
tempestate  Saturnus  vi  Jovis  expulsus  cesserit  regnis.'  He  seeks  to  explain 
this  tradition  by  the  analogy  between  Idtei,  from  Mount  Ida,  and  Judcei.  It 
must  be  kept  in  mind  that  these  late  traditions  may  have  arisen  from  a  con- 
nection between  Crete  and  the  Philistine  coast  in  Hellenic  times — i.e.  after 
Alexander  the  Great.     Gaza  especially  had  then  great  trade  with  the  west. 

*  Cf  Odyssey,  xix.  170  ff.  Achaeans,  Kydonians,  Dorians,  Pelasgians,  and 
aboriginal  Cretans — ire6Kpr)Toi. 

*  Hitzig,  Urgeschichte  u.  Mythologie  der  Fhilistiier,  where  the  most  extra- 
ordinary Sanscrit  analogies  are  suggested.  The  argument  has  been  still  more 
overdone  by  the  article  in  Schenkel's  Bibel-Lexicou. 

*  Knobel's  opinion  [Vdlkertafel  Gen.  x. )  was  llint  the  Philistines  were 
Egyptians  who  had  sojourned  in  Crete. 


1 7  2    TJie  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

not  contradict  it.     Take  them  as  a  whole,  and  the  Philis- 
tines   appear    a    Semitic  people,  with  some  non-Semitic 
habits,  institutions,  and  words.     Putting  aside 

Racial  char-  _      ,     . 

acterof        the  names  of  their   towns,  which   were   pro- 

Philistines.      ,     ,  ,       ,  ,     .     ^  .  ,  , 

bably  due  to  their  Canaanite  predecessors,^  we 
find  a  number  of  their  personal  names  also  to  be  Semitic.^ 
Their  religion  seems  to  have  consisted  of  the  thorough 
Semitic  fashion  of  reverencing  a  pair  of  deities,  masculine 
and  feminine.  Dagon  had  a  fish-goddess  by  his  side, 
and  the  names  Dagon  and  Beelzebub  are  purely  Semitic. 
Nor  is  this  evidence  counterbalanced  by  the  fact  that  the 
Philistines  did  not  practise  circumcision,  for  they  may  have 
abandoned  the  custom  during  their  western  sojourn,  as 
the  later  Phoenicians  did  in  contact  with  the  Greeks. 
But  even  when  we  have  admitted  the  Semitic  features, 
it  is  still  possible  to  argue  that  the  Philistines  received 
these  from  the  civilisation  which  they  succeeded  and 
absorbed.  This  is  certain  in  the  case  of  their  towns,  and 
of  the  names  of  the  giants  among  them,  who  belonged  to 
the  remains  of  the  Canaanite  population.^  Indeed,  with 
the  exception,  perhaps,  of  Abimelech,  there  is  no  Philistine 
name  of  a  Semitic  cast  of  which  this  may  not  be  true.  It 
is  quite  possible  that  neither  Delilah  nor  Obed-edom  the 
Gittite  was  a  pure  Philistine.*  As  for  language,  there  is 
little  argument  either  way  ;  but  if,  as  there  is  some  reason 

^  This  disposes  of  part  of  Stade's  argument,  Gesch.  des  V.  Israel,  i.  142. 

"  Abimelech,  Delilah,  Obed-edom.     But  see  below.     Perhaps  also  Ishbi, 
Saph,  Goliath,  Raphah. 

Achish,  5J'''3X,  son  of  Maoch,  TiyO,  king  of  Gath,  i  Sam.  xxvii.  2. 
Achish,  son  of  Maachah,  king  of  Gath,  nsyO  i  Kings  ii.  39.  W.  Max 
Miiller  {Asieii  u.  Eiir.,  389)  gives  a  name  Bi-d-ira. 

^  Josh.  xi.  21,  22.     Cf.  XV.  13,  14. 

*  Gath  was  so  near  the  Israel  border,  and  so  often  under  Israel,  that  Obed- 
edom  may  have  been  a  Hebrew,  though  this  is  not  likely  from  his  name. 


The  Pkilistijies  and  their  Cities  173 

to  suppose,  incoming-  Israel  acquired  theirs  from  the 
Canaanites,  it  is  not  impossible  for  the  Philistines  to  have 
done  the  same.^  As  for  religion,  if  in  antiquity  the  religion 
of  a  province  was  usually  adopted  by  its  invaders,  and  if 
even  Israel  fell  so  frequently  under  the  power  of  Canaanite 
worship,  as  only  with  difficulty  to  escape  from  permanently 
succumbing  to  it,  how  much  more  likely  were  the  Philis- 
tines, who  had  not  the  spirit  of  Israel,  to  yield  to  the 
manner  of  the  gods  of  tJic  land}  The  case,  therefore,  is  very 
complex.  As  to  the  non-Semitic  elements  in  Philistinism, 
some  maintain  tliat  they  are  Greek,  or  at  least  Aryan.^ 
Now,  it  would  indeed  be  interesting  if  we  were  sure  that 
in  the  early  Philistines  Israel  already  encountered  that 
Hellenism  with  which  she  waged  war  on  the  same  fields 
in  the  days  of  the  Maccabees.  But  we  cannot  affirm  more 
than  that  this  was  possible  ;  and  the  above  ambiguous 
results  are  all  that  are  afforded  by  the  present  state  of  our 
knowledge  of  this  perplexing  people. 

The  Philistines  appear  to  have  come  into  the  Maritime 
Plain  of  Syria  either  shortly  before  or  shortly  after  Israel 
left  Egypt.    In  the  Tell-el-Amarna  Letters  from 

Their  ap- 

South  Palestine,  in  the  beginning  of  the  four-    pemancein 

.  ,        Canaan. 

teenth  century  B.C.,  they  are  not  mentioned  ; 
and  in  the  latter  half  of  that  century  the  monuments  of 
Rameses  II.  represent  the  citizens  of  Askalon  with  faces 
that  are  not  Philistine  faces.*     Now,  this  agrees  with  the 

^  Nothing  can  be  argued  about  the  speech  of  the  early  Philistines,  from 
the  fact  that  in  Aramaic  times  the  Philistines,  as  witnessed  by  two  coins  of 
Ashdod,  spoke  a  dialect  of  Hebrew. 

-  2  Kings  xvii.  26. 

*  The  article  in  Riehm's  Handworterbuch  says  of  the  Philistines :  '  Sie 
sind  mit  Griechischen,  bestimmter  Karischen,  Elementen,  stark,  versetzten 
Semilen,  aus  Kreta.     In  Isa.  ix.  11,  for  Philistines  the  LXX.  have"E\\i7«'€s. 

*  They  are  probably  Hittite. — Brugsch. 


I  74   The  Histoi^ical  Geogi^aphy  of  the  Holy  Land 

traditions  in  Genesis,  one  of  which  places  the  Phihstine 
centre  still  to  the  south  of  Gaza/  while  another  states  that 
the  Canaanites  once  held  all  the  coast  from  Gaza  north- 
wards ;2  as  well  as  that  of  Deuteronomy,^  that  the  Caph- 
torim  had  to  expel  the  Avini,  zvho  dive  It  in  open  villages,  as 
far  as  Gaza.  This  northern  advance  of  the  Philistines 
may  have  been  going  on  at  the  very  time  that  the  Israel- 
ites were  invading  the  Canaanites  from  the  east.  But  if 
so,  it  cannot  have  been  either  powerful  or  ambitious,  for  of 
the  various  accounts  in  the  books  of  Joshua  and  Judges  of 
the  first  Hebrew  conquests,  none  bring  the  Hebrews  even 
into  conflict  with  the  Philistines.^  Still  later,  by  Deborah's 
time,  the  tribe  of  Dan  had  touched  the  sea,  and  when 
afterwards  they  were  driven  back  to  the  hills,  the  pressure 
came  not  from  Philistines,  but  from  Amorites.^    Very  soon 

^  In  Gerar — Gen.  xx.  and  xxvi.  Gerar  can  hardly  be  the  Umm-el-Jerar 
for  which  it  is  generally  taken  ;  for  this  is  too  far  north  for  the  verse  in 
which  it  occurs  to  agree  with  the  clause  immediately  before  it,  Gen.  xx.  i  ; 
and  the  Onomasticon  puts  it  twenty-five  Roman  miles  south  of  Beit-Jibrin. 

2  Gen.  X.  19.  ^  ii.  3. 

*  Josh.  xi.  and  xiii.  ;  Judges  i.,  especially  verse  1 8,  where,  with  the  LXX. 
and  most  authorities,  we  should  insert  the  word  'not.'  Josh.  xiii.  2  says 
expressly,  This  is  the  laud  that  yet  reinaineth — all  the  Geliloth,  or  circuits,  of 
the  Philistines. 

^  Judges  v.  17  :  Da)i  abideth  in  ships.  Judges  i.  34  ;  The  A moritcs  forced 
the  children  of  Dan  into  the  mountains,  for  they  would  not  suffer  them  to  come 
down  into  the  valley,  i.e.  of  Ajalon,  where  according  to  the  next  verse,  the 
Amorites  settled  till  they  were  subdued  by  Ephraim.  [I  cannot  agree  with 
Hwdf^Le  (Biichcr  Richter  n.  Samuel,  p.  17)  that  Mount  Heres  =  Beth-shemesh, 
the  present  'Ain  Shems,  in  the  Vale  of  Sorek  (read  siidlich  for  nordlich  in 
Budde).  Mount  Heres  must  be  in  the  Vale  of  Ajalon,  where  Ephraim  would 
naturally  come,  as  he  would  not  into  Sorek.]  The  two  statements  can  hardly 
be  reconciled,  for  if  the  Amorites  succeeded,  according  to  Judges  i.  34,  in 
preventing  Dan  from  even  coming  down  into  the  valley,  how  could  it  be  said 
that  (Judges  v.  17)  Dan  ever  got  to  the  sea,  and  remained  in  ships}  This  is 
just  one  of  the  difficulties  that  meet  us  almost  everywhere  in  the  accounts  of 
Israel's  occupation  of  the  land.  I  have  ventured  (in  opposition  to  Stade, 
Budde,  and  Kittel)  to  adopt  the  statement  that  Dan  did  reach  the  sea,  for 
Judges  V.  17  belongs  to  one  of  the  best-assured  parts  of  the  Song  of  Deborah, 


The  Philistines  and  tJicir  Cities  i  75 

afterwards,  however,  the  Philistines,  adding  to  their  effective 
force  the  tall  Canaanitcs^  whom  they  had  subdued,  and 
strengthened,  perhaps,  by  the  addition  of  other  clans  from 
their  earlier  seats — for,  like  Israel,  they  had  several  tribes 
among  them^ — moved  north  and  east  with  irresistible 
power.  Overflowing  from  what  was  especially  known  as 
their  districts,  the  Geliloth  Peleshcth,^  they  seized  all  the 
coast  to  beyond  Carmel,  and  spread  inland  over  ^j^^ji.  contact 
Esdraelon.  It  was  during  this  time  of  expan-  ^^'"^^  ^^'■^'^'• 
sion  that  they  also  invaded  the  highlands  to  the  east  of 
them,  and  began  that  conflict  with  Israel  which  alone  has 
given  them  fame  and  a  history. 

We  cannot  have  followed  this  history  without  being 
struck  by  the  strange  parallel  which  it  affords  to  the 
history  of  Israel — the  strange  parallel  and  parallel 
the  stranger  difference.  Both  Philistines  and  Ssdncs'^ 
Hebrews  were  immigrants  into  the  land  for  ^'^^  Israelites, 
whose  possession  they  fought  through  centuries.  Both 
came  up  to  it  from  Egypt.  Both  absorbed  the  populations 
they  found  upon  it.  Both  succeeded  to  the  Canaanite 
civilisation,  and  came  under  the  fascination  of  the  Canaan- 
ite religion.  Each  people  had  a  distinctive  character  of  its 
own,  and  both  were  at  different  periods  so  victorious  that 
either,  humanly  speaking,  might  have  swallowed  up  the 
other.  Indeed,  so  fully  was  the  Philistine  identified  with 
the  land  that  his  name  has  for  ever  become  its  name — a 

and  is  not  to  be  put  aside  simply  because  it  conflicts  with  another  state- 
ment. 

^  Sons  of  Anak. 

^  Kaphlorim,  Philistines,  Kerethim,  etc 

^  One  of  the  few  instances  of  the  use  of  Gelil,  or  Gelilah,  apart  from  Galilee 
(ch.  XX.).  It  was,  of  course,  a  name  applied  by  the  foreign  Hebrews,  and 
one  might  be  tempted  to  see  a  trace  of  it  in  the  Galilea  of  the  Crusaders,  east 
of  Cssarea,  and  the  modern  Jelil,  north-cast  of  Jaffa.     Sec  p.  413 


I  ^6   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

distinction  which  Israel  never  reached.  Yet  Israel  survived 
and  the  Philistine  disappeared.  Israel  attained  to  a  destiny, 
equalled  in  the  history  of  mankind  only  by  Greece  and 
Rome,  whereas  all  the  fame  of  the  Philistine  lies  in  having 
served  as  a  foil  to  the  genius  of  the  Hebrews,  and  to-day 
his  name  against  theirs  is  the  symbol  of  impenetrableness 
and  obscurantism. 

What  caused  this  difference  between  peoples  whose 
earlier  fortunes  were  so  similar  ?  First,  we  may  answer, 
their  geographical  position,  and  Second,  the  spirit  which 
was  in  one  of  them.  The  same  Hand  ^  which  brought  in 
Israel  from  the  east  brought  up  the  Philistine  from  the 
south.  It  planted  Israel  on  a  rocky  range  of  mountain, 
aloof  from  the  paths  of  the  great  empires,  and  outside  their 
envy.  It  planted  the  Philistines  on  an  open  doorway  and 
a  great  thoroughfare,  amidst  the  traffic  and  the  war  of  two 
continents.  They  were  bent  now  towards  Egypt,  now 
towards  Assyria,  at  a  time  when  youthful  Israel  was 
growing  straight  and  free  as  one  of  her  own  forest  trees. 
They  were  harassed  by  intrigue  and  battle,  when  her 
choicest  spirits  had  freedom  for  the  observation  of  the 
workings  of  an  omnipotent  and  righteous  Providence ; 
and  when,  at  last,  they  were  overwhelmed  by  the  streams 
of  Greek  culture  which  flowed  along  their  coast  in  the 
wake  of  Alexander  tlie  Great,  she  upon  her  bare  heights 
still  stubbornly  kept  the  law  of  her  Lord.  Yet,  to  ascribe 
this  difference  of  destiny  to  difference  of  geographical 
position  were  to  dignify  the  mere  opportunity  with  the 
virtue  of  the  original  cause  ;  for  it  was  not  Israel's  geo- 
graphical position  which  prevented  her  from  yielding  to 
the  Canaanite  religion,  or  moved  her,  being  still  young 

^  See  Amos  viii.  9. 


The  Philistines  and  their  Cities  177 

and  rude,  to  banish  from  her  midst  the  soothsayers  and 
necromancers,  to  whom  the  Philistines  were  wholly  given 
over.^  But  from  the  first  Israel  had  within  her  a  spirit,  and 
before  her  an  ideal,  of  which  the  Philistines  knew  nothing, 
and  always  her  prophets  identified  the  purpose — which 
they  plainly  recognised — of  her  establishment  on  so  iso- 
lated and  secure  a  position  with  the  highest  ends  of 
righteousness,  wisdom,  and  service  to  all  mankind. 

It  is  outside  the  purpose  of  this  work  to  follow  in  detail 
the  history  of  the  relations  of  the  two  peoples,  but  it  may 
be  useful  to  define  the  main  periods  into  which  that  history 
falls,  with  their  relevant  portions  of  geography. 

There  was  first  a  period   of  military  encounters,  and 
alternate  subjugation  of  the  one  people  by  the  other.    This 
passed  through  its   heroic  stage   in  the  times    Relations  of 
of  Samson,  Saul,  and  David,  entered  a  more   J5'^^^  ?"^^ 

'  '  '  Philistia, 

peaceful  epoch  under  Solomon,  and  for  the  I-Tob.c.  8co. 
next  three  centuries  of  the  Hebrew  monarchy  was  distin- 
guished by  occasional  raids  from  both  sides  into  the  heart 
of  the  enemy's  country.  The  chief  theatre  of  the  events  of 
this  period  are  the  Shephelah  hills  and  the  valleys  leading 
up  through  them  upon  Judah  and  Benjamin.-  At  one 
time  the  Philistines  are  at  Michmash,  on  the  very  citadel 
of  Israel's  hill-country,  and  at  another  near  Jezreel,  by  its 
northern  entrances.^  In  both  of  these  cases  their  purpose 
may  have  been  to  extend  their  supremacy  over  the  trade 
routes  which  came  up  from  Egypt  and  crossed  the  Jordan  ; 
but  it  seems  as  probable  that,  by  occupying  Michmash 
and  the  Plain  of  Esdraclon,  they  sought  to  separate  the 

*  Cf.  I  Sam.  xxviii.  3  with  Isa.  ii.  6. 

-  See  next  chapter. 

"*  I  Sam.  xiii.,  xxix-.,  and  xxxi. 

M 


I  78    The  Historical  Geography  of  tJie  Holy  Land 

tribes  of  Israel  from  one  another.^  Occasionally  Philis- 
tines penetrated  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem,^  or 
the  Israelite  raids  swept  up  to  the  gates  of  Gaza ;  ^  but 
neither  people  ever  mastered  the  other's  chief  towns. 

The  second  period  is  that  of  the  centuries  from  the  eighth 
to  the  fourth  before  Christ,  when  the  contests  of  the  two 
jj  g^  nations  are  stilled  before  the  advance  upon 
800-400.  Syria  of  the  great  world-powers — Egypt,  As- 
syria, Babylon  and  Persia.  Now,  instead  of  a  picture  of 
forays  and  routs  up  and  down  the  intervening  passes, 
Philistine  and  Hebrew  face  to  face  in  fight,  we  have  the 
gaze  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  looking  down  on  Philistia 
from  afar,  and  marking  her  cities  for  destruction  by  the 
foreign  invader.  It  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  many  signs  of 
the  sobriety  of  the  prophets,  and  of  their  fidelity  to  histori- 
cal fact,  that  they  do  not  seek  to  revive  within  Israel  at 
this  time  any  of  her  earlier  ambitions  for  the  victory  of  her 
own  arms  over  her  ancient  foe.  The  threats  of  prophecy 
against  Philistia  are,  with  one  exception,  threats  of  destruc- 
tion from  Egypt  and  Mesopotamia.  Isaiah,  Jeremiah, 
Zephaniah,  Zechariah,  speak  of  the  Philistine  cities,  not 
hotly,  as  of  enemies  shortly  to  be  met  in  battle,  but  piti- 
fully, as  victims  of  the  Divine  judgment,  which  lowers  over 
Philistia  and  Israel  alike.* 

^  This  seems  the  more  likely  idea  in  the  case  of  Michmash,  for  although 
there  was  a  trade  route  from  the  east  of  the  Jordan  by  Jericho  and  Michmash 
to  the  coast,  which  was  much  used  by  the  Crusaders  (see  p.  250),  a  garrison 
at  Michmash  could  not  have  kept  it  open  while  Saul  had  his  camp  at  Gilgal, 
and  commanded  the  Jordan. 

2  2  Sam.  V.  22  ff.  ^2  Kings  xviii.  8. 

•*  Isa.  xiv.  29-32;  Jer.  xlvii.  ;  Zeph.  ii.  ;  Zech.  ix.  The  one  exception  is 
Isa.  xi.  14,  where  it  is  said  Judah  and  Ephraim  shall  swoop  upon  the  shoulder 
of  the  Philistine  towards  the  sea.  This  is  a  passage  which  some  maintain  is 
not  Isaiah's,     But,  as  far  as  our  present  subject  is  concerned,  there  was  suffi- 


The  Philistines  and  their  Cities  1 79 

A  change  of  attitude  and  temper  came  with  the  third 

period,  from  the  third  century  before  Christ  to  the  close  of 

the  Jewish  revolts  against  Rome,  in  the  third   jjj  ^^       _ 

century  after  Christ     With  Alexander's  inva-  ^'^-  3°°- 

sion  the  Philistine  coast  and  cities  were  opened  to  Greek 

influence.      There   was   traffic    with    Greece   through   the 

harbours,  such   as   they  were  ;   there  were  settlements  of 

Greek  men  in  all  the  cities,  Greek  institutions  arose,  the 

old  deities  were  identified  with  Greek  gods,  and,  though  the 

ancient  Philistine  stubbornness  persisted  it  was  exercised 

in  the  defence  of  civic  independence,  according  to  Greek 

ideas,  and  of  Greek  manners  and  morals.     But  it  was  just 

against  this  Hellenism,  whether  of  Syria  or  of  the  half-free 

Philistine  cities,  that  the  sacred  wars  of  the   Maccabees 

broke   out.     The   aloofness  of  the  prophetic   period  was 

over,  and  Israel  returned  to  close  quarters  with  her  ancient 

foes.     Their  battles  raged  on  the  same  fields ;  their  routs 

and  pursuits  up  and  down  the  same  passes.     Did  Samson 

arise  in  the  Vale  of  Sorek,  and  David  slay  Goliath  in  the 

Vale  of  Elah,  botii  of  them  leading  down  into  Philistia  ? — 

then  the  birthplace  of  the  Maccabees  was  in  the  parallel 

Valley  of  Ajalon,  at  Modin,  and  their  exploits  within  sight 

of  the  haunts  of  their  predecessors  a  thousand  years  before. 

So,  through  the  literature  of  this  time,  and  of  the  times 

leading  up  to  it,  we  miss  the  wide  prophetic  view,  and  in 

psalms  that  exult  in  the  subjugation  of  the  Philistines  to 

Israel,    and  triumph  over  Philistia}  we  seem  to  breathe 

cient  historicil  occasion  for  it  in  Isaiah's  days,  in  the  expeditions  of  Uzziah 
and  Ilezekiah  up  to  the  gates  of  Gaza. 

1  Psahn  l.\.  (cviii.),  hxxxiii.,  etc.  Of  course,  it  is  always  possible  historically 
that  such  Psalms  are  of  earlier  dale,  for  Ilezekiah  carried  fire  and  sword  into 
Philistia  while  Isaiah  was  alive — a  strong  reminder  to  us  of  how  impossible  it 
is  to  be  dogmatic  on  the  date  of  any  Psalm,  simply  because  it  reflects  the  main 
feeling  of  the  literature  of  llic  time  to  which  we  assign  it. 


i8o   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

again  the  ruder  and  more  military  spirit  of  the  times  of 
Samson  and  of  Saul.  This  hostility  and  active  warfare 
persisted  till  the  last  Jewish  revolts  under  the  Roman 
emperors.  Then  the  Jews  gave  way,  withdrawing  into 
Galilee,  and  Christianity  succeeded  to  the  heritage  of  the 
war  against  Hellenism. 

The  slow  conquest  of  heathenism  by  the  Church  forms 
the  foiirtJi  period  of  the  history  of  Philistia,  from  the  first 
IV.  In  Chris- ^°  '^^  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  after 
tian  Times.  Christ.  It  is  typical  of  the  whole  early  progress 
of  Christianity,  and  as  full  of  pathos  and  romance  as  this 
was  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  In  Philistia  Chris- 
tianity rose  against  a  Hellenism  proud  of  its  recent  vic- 
tories over  the  Jews.  There  were  flourishing  schools  and 
notable  philosophers  in  every  city.  The  gods,  identified 
with  the  deities  of  Greece  and  Rome,  were  favoured  equally 
by  the  common  jDcople  and  by  the  governing  classes. 
The  Marneion,  or  Temple  of  Mania,  at  Gaza  was  regarded 
as  a  stronghold  of  heathendom  only  second  to  the  Serapeum 
at  Alexandria.^  Beside  so  elaborate  a  paganism  the  early 
Christians  of  Philistia,  though  they  were  organised  under 
many  bishops,  were  a  small  and  feeble  folk.  Like  the 
Church  of  Pergamos,  they  dwelt  by  Satmis  seat,  and  like 
her,  in  consequence,  they  had  their  martyrs.^  Next  neigh- 
bours to  the  Church  of  Egypt,  they  imitated  the  asceticism 
of  Antony,  and  avowed  the  orthodoxy  of  Athanasius.  The 
deserts  of  Egypt  sent  them  monks,  who,  scattered  over  the 
plain  and  the  low  hills  of  Shephelah,  gradually  converted 
the  country  people,  with  a  power  which  the  Hellenism  of 
the  cities  had  no  means  to  counteract.^     It  is  their  caves 

1  Jerome  ad  Lactam,  ep.  vii. ,  and  Commentary  to  Isaiah,  c.  xvii. 

^  Rev.  ii.  13.    For  martyrs  see  Eusebius,  H.E.  viii.  13,  Sozomen,  ^aji'm. 

^  Jerome,  Life  of  Hilarion.     Sozomen's  History,  vi.  31. 


TJic  Philistines  and  their  Cities 


i«i 


and  the  ruins  of  their  cloisters  which  we  come  across 
to-day  in  the  quiet  glens  of  the  Shephclah,  especially  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Beit-Jibrin.^  For  a  little,  Constan- 
tine's  favour  gave  them  a  freer  course  in  the  cities,  but  this 
was  closed  by  the  following  hostility  of  Julian  ;  and  it  was 
not  till  402,  under  the  influence  of  Theodosius,  and  at  the 
hands  of  the  vigorous  Bishop  Porphyry  of  Gaza,^  that  the 
Cross  triumphed,  and  idolatry  was  abolished.  Then  the 
Marneion  was  destroyed,  almost  on  the  same  site  on  which 
Samson  drew  down  the  Temple  of  Uagon  fifteen  hundred 
years  before.  But  this  was  only  the  climax  of  a  process  of 
which  the  country  monks  must  get  the  credit.  In  the 
same  glens  where  the  early  peasants  of  Israel  had  beaten 
back  the  Philistine  armies  with  ox-goads,^  and  David,  with 
his  shepherd's  sling,  had  slain  the  giant,  simple  monks, 
with  means  as  primitive,  gained  the  first  victories  for 
Christ  over  as  strenuous  a  paganism. 

After  this,  life  in  Philistia  is  almost  silent  till  the 
Crusades,  and  after  the  Crusades  till  now. 

This  rapid  sketch  of  the  four  periods  of  Philistine 
history  will  prepare  us  both  for  our  review  of  the  great 
Philistine  cities  in  this  chapter,  and  of  the  Shephelah  in 
the  next.  The  five  Philistine  cities  we  take  now  from  the 
south  northwards. 

Gaza  may  best  be  described  as  in  most  respects  the 
southern  counterpart  of  Damascus.     It  is  a  site  of  abun- 

^  See  ch.  xi.  The  labours  of  these  monks  were  especially  numerous  in  the 
vbjio'i  of  Eleutheropolis  :  F,usebius. 

-  Life  of  Porphyry,  by  Marcus  the  Deacon,  in  the  Acta  Saiictoriivi. 

^  The  story  of  Shamgar  and  his  slaughter  of  600  Philistines  with  an 
ox-goad  (Judges  iii.  31)  is  no  doubt,  as  many  have  suggested,  a  typical 
instance  of  the  fact  above  stated. 


1 82    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

dant  fertility  on  the  edge  of  a  great  desert  ^ — a  harbour 
for  the  wilderness  and  a  market  for  the  nomads  ;  once, 
as  Damascus  is  still,  the  rendezvous  of  a  great 
pilgrimage;  and  as  Damascus  was  the  first  great 
Syrian  station  across  the  desert  from  Assyria,  so  Gaza  is 
the  natural  outpost  across  the  desert  from  Egypt.  This, 
indeed,  is  to  summarise  her  position  and  history. 

Gaza  lies  to-day  where  she  lay  in  the  most  ancient  times, 
on  and  around  a  hill,  which  rises  lOO  feet  above  the  plain, 
Gaza  and  ^^  three  milcs'  distance  from  the  sea.  Fifteen 
the  Desert,  wells  of  fresh  water  burst  from  the  sandy  soil, 
and  render  possible  the  broad  gardens  and  large  popula- 
tion.2  The  Bedouin  from  a  hundred  miles  away  come 
into  the  bazaars  for  their  cloth,  weapons,  and  pottery.  In 
the  days  when  the  pilgrimage  to  Sinai  was  made  rather 
from  Syria  than  from  Egypt,  the  caravans  were  organised 
in  Gaza  for  the  desert  march.^  The  inhabitants  were 
characterised  as  '  lovers  of  pilgrims,'  whom,  no  doubt,  like 
the  Damascenes,  they  found  profitable.  As  from  Damascus, 
so  from  Gaza  great  trade-routes  travelled  in  all  directions — 
to  Egypt,  to  South  Arabia,  and  in  the  times  of  the  Naba- 

^  iTvX  TTj  apxv  TV^  eprj/jLov.    Arrian,  Anabasis  ii.  26.    For  Damascus  see  ch.  xxx. 

^  Arrian,  Aiiab.  Alex.  ii.  26,  reckons  Gaza  at  twenty  stadia  from  the  sea. 
The  hill  is  not  extensive.  The  gardens  spread  about  it  four  miles  north  and 
south  by  two  and  a  half  east  and  west.  The  population  is  said  to  be  18,000 
at  present,  and,  except  when  ruined,  the  town  was  described  by  writers  of  all 
ages  as  large,  splendid,  and  opulent.  For  detailed  descriptions  see  P.E.F. 
Mem.  iii.  ;  Z.D.P.  V.  viii.,  but  especially  xi.,  with  plan  by  Gatt,  p.  149.  In 
1483  twice  as  big  as  Jerusalem  :  Felix  Fabri  {P.P.T.),  ii.  450. 

^  Rather  than  at  Hebron,  even  when  the  pilgrimage  was  to  or  from  Jeru- 
salem, for  the  Bedouin  still  avoid  Hebron,  but  come  readily  to  Gaza  :  Robin- 
son, B.R.  i.  Cf.  Anton.  Placen.  Itiiier.  (570  A.D.),  which  describes  (ch. 
xxxiii. )  the  Gazans  as  '  homines  honestissimi,  omni  liberalitate  decori,  amatores 
peregrinorum.'  Antoninus  took  eighteen  or  nineteen  days  on  the  way  to  Sinai. 
Antonius  de  Cremona  says:  'De  monte  Synay  usque  ad  Gazam  fuimus  xv. 
diebus  in  deserto.'     Cf.  also  Bernhard,  de  la  Brocquerie  (1432). 


The  Philistines  and  their  Cities 


tean  kingdom  to  Petra  and  Palmyra.^  Amos  curses  Gaza 
for  trafficking  in  slaves  with  Edom."  When  the  descriptions 
of  Strabo  and  Pliny  reach  Gaza,  almost  the  only  fact  they 
find  relevant  is  her  distance  from  Elath,  on  the  Gulf  of 
Akaba.^  From  all  those  eastern  depots,  on  sea  and  desert, 
Gaza,  by  her  harbour,  in  Greek  times  forwarded  the  riches 
of  Arabia  and  India  across  the  Mediterranean,  as  Acca  did 
by  the  Palmyra-Damascus  route.  The  Crusaders  alone  do 
not  appear  to  have  used  Gaza  for  commerce,  because  this 
part  of  Palestine  was  never  so  securely  in  their  hands  as 
to  permit  them  to  dominate  the  roads  south  and  east  for 
any  distance,  and  they  tapped  the  eastern  trade  by  the 
route  Moab,  Jericho,  Jerusalem,  Joppa.*  But  through 
Moslem  times  the  stream  has  partly  followed  its  old 
channel.  To  this  day  caravans  setting  out  from  Gaza 
meet  the  Damascus  Hajj  at  Ma'en  with  pilgrims  and 
supplies.^  Their  common  interest  in  those  routes  has  gene- 
rally kept  the  people  of  Gaza  and  the  Bedouin  on  good 
terms.  Bates,  the  Persian  who  defended  Gaza  against 
Alexander  the  Great,  employed  Arab  mercenaries  ;  ^  in 
the  military  history  of  Judah,  Arabians  are  twice  joined 
with  Philistines  ;  '^  the  excursions  of  Lhe  Maccabees  against 
the  Philistine  towns  were  usually  directed  against  the 
'  nomads '  as  well  ;  '^  and,  on  the  eve  of  her  desolation  by 
Alexander  Janneus,  Gaza  was  looking  wistfully  across  the 

1  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  v.  12.     Cf.  ch.  xxix.  -  Amos  i.  6. 

"  Strabo,  vi.  20 ;  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  v.  12,  cf.  14. 

•»  Rey's  Les  Colonies  Frauqites  dans  Ic  xii.  el  xiii.  sihles,  ch.  ix. 

^  Burckhaiclt's  Travels  in  Syria,  pp.  436,  658  ;  Doughty's  Arabia  Deserta, 
!•  P-  I33>  where  it  is  said  that  caravans  also  come  from  Hebron  to  Ma'en. 

^  Arrian,  Anal>.  ii.  26,  27  ;  Quintus  Curtius,  iv.  6. 

'  In  bringing  tribute  to  Jehoshaphat,  2  Chron.  xvii.  11,  and  in  invading 
Jehoram,  2  Chron.  xxi.  16. 

*  I  Maccabees. 


184    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Latid 

desert  for  King  Aretas,  the  Arabian,  to  come  to  her  help.^ 
In  the  Moslem  invasion  Gaza  was  one  of  the  first  points 
in  Syria  which  Abu  Bekr's  soldiers  struck,^  and  the  Byzan- 
tine army  was  defeated  in  the  suburbs.  After  that  the 
Mohammedans  called  Gaza  Dehliz  el  Moulk,  '  the  Thresh- 
old of  the  Kingdom.' 

But  Gaza  has  even  closer  relations  with  Egypt.     The 

eight  days'  march  across  the  sands  from  the  Delta  requires 

Gaza  and       ^^^^  ^^  ^'^  army  come  up  that  way  into  Syria, 

Egypt.  Gaza,  being  their  first  relief  from   the  desert, 

should  be  in  friendly  hands.     Hence  the  continual  efforts 

of  Egypt  to  hold  the  town.     Alike  under  the  Pharaohs  of 

the  sixteenth  to  the  fourteenth  centuries,  and  the  Ptolemies 

of  the  third  and  second,  we  find  Gaza  occupied,  or  bitterly 

fought    for,  by  Egyptian    troops.^      Alexander,    invading 

Egypt,  and  Napoleon,  invading  Syria,  had  both  to  capture 

her.     Napoleon  has  emphasised  the  indispensableness  of 

Gaza,  whether  in  the  invasion  or  the  defence  of  the  Nile 

Valley.*     Gaza  is  the  outpost  of  Africa,  the  door  of  Asia. 

Gaza  never  lay  within   the  territories  of  early   Israel,^ 

^  Josephus  xiii.  Antt.  xiii.  3. 

"  By  the  most  southerly  of  the  three  brigades— that  of  Amr  Ibn  el  Assi — 
Gaza  seems  to  have  been  taken  in  634. 

2  The  Annals  of  Thothmes  III.;  The  Tell-el-Amarna  Letters  of  the  fifteenth 
century ;  the  records  of  Ramses'  conquests  in  the  fourteenth.  Sayce  supposes 
the  Philistines  were  planted  by  the  Egyptians  in  Gaza  and  her  sister  cities  as 
outposts  of  Egypt  {Races  of  the  0.  T.,  p.  54),  yet  Egypt  is  aiwi^ys  represented 
as  hostile  to  them,  Mtiller,  Asien  ti.  Ettropa,  388  ff.  Cf.  Jer.  xlvii.  From 
323,  when  Ptolemy  Lagos  took  it  (Diod.  Sic.  xix.  59),  Gaza  frequently  passed 
from  the  Ptolemies  to  the  Antiochi,  and  back  again,  till  198  B.C.  (Polybius,  v.), 
when  it  fell  to  Antiochus  the  Great,  and  remained  part  of  the  Syriar  kingdom 
for  a  century.     But  see  Additional  Notes  on  p.  198. 

^  Op.  cit.  II.  eh.  vii. 

^  A  later  addition  to  Josh,  xv.,  viz.  vv.  45-47,  sets  Gaza  within  the  ideal 
borders  of  Judah  ;  but  this  has  no  confirmation,  and,  indeed,  is  contradicted 
by  the  true  reading  of  Judges  i.  iS,  where  a  not  should  be  inserted  from  the 
LXX.     The  Gaza  of  i  Chron.  vii.  28  is  another  Gaza,  near  Shechem. 


The  Philistines  and  their  Cities  185 

though  Israel's  authority,  as  in  Solomon's  time,^  and  tem- 
porar\'  conquests,  as  in  Hezckiah's,-  might  extend  to  her 
gates  ;  and  this  is  to  be  explained  by  the  pres-  ^^^^^  ^^^^ 
tige  which  Egypt,  standing  immediately  behind,  ^^'''I'^i- 
cast  upon  her.  Under  the  Maccabees,  as  we  have  seen, 
Jewish  armies  carried  fire  and  sword  across  Philistia. 
Ekron  and  Ashdod  were  taken,  Askalon  came  to  terms, 
and,  after  Jonathan  had  burnt  her  suburbs,  Gaza  was 
forced  to  buy  him  off^  It  was  not  till  96  B.C.  that  Jews 
actually  crossed  her  walls,  but  in  that  year  the  pent- 
up  hatred  of  centuries  burst  in  devastation  upon  her. 
Alexander  Janneus,  taking  advantage  of  the  withdrawal 
from  Syria  of  the  Egyptian  troops,  invested  Gaza.  After 
a  year's  siege,  in  which  the  whole  oasis  was  laid  waste,  the 
town  itself  was  captured  by  treachery,  its  buildings  burned, 
and  its  people  put  to  the  sword.*  Gaza,  to  use  the  word 
that  is  echoed  of  her  by  one  writer  after  another  for  the 
next  century,  lay  desert.^  In  62,  Pompey  took  Gaza — now 
called  a  maritime  city,  like  Joppa — from  the  Jews,  and 
made  it  a  free  city.*'  In  57,  Gabinius  rebuilt  it,''  certainly 
on  a  new  site,  and  possibly  close  to  its  harbour,  which  all 
through  the  Greek  period  had  been  growing  in  importance. 
In  30,  Gaza,  still  called  '  a  maritime  city,'  was  granted  by 
Caesar  to  Herod,^  but  at  the  latter's  death,  being  Greek,  as 

^  I  Kings  iv.  24.    Azza,  or  rather  'Azza,  is  the  more  correct  spelling  of  Gaza. 

2  2  Kings  xviii.  S. 

^  Josephus  xiii.  Atiti.  xv.  5  ;  i  Mace.  xi.  60.    In  xiii.  4,  read  Gazara  for  Gaza. 

*  Josephus  xiii.  Antt.  xiii.  3. 

*  iroKitv  xp^^ov  eprj/xovs,  Josephus  xiv.  Aiitt.  v.  3 ;  fj.ivov:ra  ^pyjixos,  Strabo 
xvi.  2.  30  ;  and  i)  ipi)nos  Vd^a,  the  anonymous  Greek  geographer  in  Hudson's 
GeographicB  veter.  script.  Graci  Jlliitores,  iv.  p.  39, 

•'  Josephus  xiv.  Antt.  v.  3. 

''  Josephus  xiv.  Antt.  iv.  4  ;  i.  iVars,  vii.  7,  In  both  of  these  passages 
Gaza  is  separated  from  the  inland  towns,  and  called  Maritime. 

*  Josephus  XV.  Antt.  vii.  3. 


1 86   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Josephus  says,  it  was  again  taken  from  the  Jews,  and  added 
to  the  Imperial  Province  of  Syria.^  '  New '  Gaza  flourished 
Gaza  which  exceedingly  at  this  time,  but  the  Old  or  Desert 
IS  Desert.  Qaza  was  not  forgotten,  probably  not  even 
wholly  abandoned,  for  the  trunk-road  to  Egypt  still  travelled 
past  it.  In  the  Book  of  Acts,  in  the  directions  given  to 
Philip  to  meet  the  Ethiopian  eunuch,  this  is  accurately 
noted:  Arise,  attd  go  tozvard  the  south,  unto  the  zvay  that 
goeth  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Gasa  ;  this  is  desert}  Most 
authorities  connect  the  adjective,  not  with  Gaza,  but  with 
the  way ;  yet  no  possible  route  from  Jerusalem  to  Gaza 
could  be  called  desert,  and  this  being  so,  and  several 
writers  ot  the  period  immediately  preceding  having  used 
the  phrase  of  the  town  itself,  it  seems  that  we  are  not  only 
encouraged,  but  shut  up,  to  the  same  reference  here.  If 
New  Gaza,  as  is  probable,  lay  at  this  time  upon  the  coast, 
then  we  know  that  the  road  the  Ethiopian  travelled  did 
not  take  that  direction,  and  in  describing  the  road  it  was 
natural  to  mention  the  old  site — Desert,  not  necessarily  in 
reality,  but  still  in  name — which  was  always  a  station  upon 
it.  That  Philip  was  found  imm.ediately  after  at  Ashdod 
suggests  that  the  meeting  and  the  baptism  took  place  on 
the  Philistine  Plain,  and  not  among  the  hills  of  Judaea, 
where  tradition  has  placed  them.  But  that  would  mean 
the  neighbourhood  of  Gaza,  and  an  additional  reason  for 
mentioning  the  town.^ 

1  Josephus  xvii.  Antt.  xi.  4  ;  ii.  Wars,  vi.  3.  Also  the  earliest  imperial 
coins  of  Gaza  date  from  a  year  or  two  after  this  (De  Saulcy,  Niimismatiqne 
de  la  Terre  Sainte,  p.  213).  -  Acts  viii.  26. 

3  My  only  difficulty  in  coming  to  this  conclusion  is  that  so  many  autho- 
rities are  against  it ;  but  it  seems  to  me  so  impossible  to  describe  any  route 
from  Jerusalem  to  Gaza  as  desert — whether  it  be  that  by  Beit-Jibrin,  which 
Robinson  {B.R.  ii.  ;  Pkys.  Geog.  108,  109)  selects,  or  the  longer  one  by 
Hebron,  which  Riiumer  and  Guerin  prefer  (Judee,  ii.  p.  204),  Guerin  sup- 


The  Philistines  and  their  Cities  187 

The  subsequent  history  of  Gaza  is  identified,  as  we  have 
seen,  with  the  struggle  of  Christianity  against  heathendom. 
In    the     second    and     third    centuries     Gaza   Gaza  and 
became  a  prosperous  centre    of  Greek    com-   ^-'hristiamty. 
merce   and    culture.       Her   schools   were   good,   but   her 
temples  were  famous,  circling  round  the  Marneion,  or  House 

porting  his  choice  by  the  unfounded  remark  that  fewer  people  took  this  route, 
and  therefore  it  might  be  distinguished  as  ^p-q/jLos  from  the  other — that  I  feel 
we  are  shut  up  to  taking  ^prjixos  as  referring  to  Gaza.  Now,  had  Acts  viii. 
been  a  document  of  the  first  century  B.C.,  there  could  have  been  no  doubt 
about  the  reference,  for  Gaza  was  then  left  'desert,' as  explicitly  stated  by 
Josephus  xiv.  Aiift.  iv.  4,  and  remained  desert,  as  witnessed  by  Strabo  xvi. 
2.  30,  and  by  the  Anonymous  Geographical  Fragment  in  Geogr.  Grcec. 
Minorcs,  ed.  Hudson,  iv.  p.  39.  This  Fragment  gives  a  list  of  towns  from 
south  to  north,  and  says  that  after  Rinocoloura,  ^  vfd  Fdfa  Kelrat,  7r6Xts  ovja 
Kai  avT-f],  eW  rj  ep-qfxos  Td^a,  elra  rj  kaKciXov  ttSXis.  Diodorus  .Siculus  (xix.  80) 
had  also  spoken  of  an  Old  Gaza  (17  TraXato,  Fdj'a)  as  the  town  where  Ptolemy 
Lagos,  in  312,  defeated  Demetrius  Poliorcetes,  as  if  to  distinguish  it  from  the 
New  Gaza  (which  he  does  not  name)  of  his  (Diodorus')  own  time.  Schlirer, 
/list  Div.  II.  vol.  ii.  71,  holds  that  the  New  Gaza  was  not  the  port,  but 
another  town  lying  inland,  and,  according  to  the  Anonymous  Fragment, 
to  the  south  of  Old  Gaza  ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  this.  The  New  Gaza 
of  the  Fragment  might  as  well  be  a  coast  town  as  Askalon  ;  and  Josephus' 
statement  that  the  Gaza  Pompey  enfranchised  in  62  was  not  an  inland  city, 
like  Ashdod  and  Jamnia,  but  a  maritime,  like  Joppa  and  Dora  (Josephus  xiv. 
ylfiti.  iv.  4 ;  cf.  Josephus  xv.  Afi/(.  vii.  3,  where  again  it  is  '  maritime,'  like 
Joppa)  seems  to  make  it  probable  that  the  Gaza  which  Gabinius  rebuilt  {id. 
V.  3)  was  on  the  coast.  If  this  be  so,  then  it  lay  off  the  road  to  Egypt,  which 
still  passed  by  the  desert  Gaza.  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  this  latter 
was  absolutely  deserted  even  in  Philip's  time.  The  fertile  site  and  neighbour- 
hood of  the  great  road  would  attract  people  back  ;  but,  even  though  it  were 
largely  like  its  old  self  again,  the  name  "Ep-q/xos  might  stick  to  it.  Gaza  is 
said  to  have  been  demolished  by  the  Jewish  revolt  of  66  a.d.  (ii.  IVars,  xvii.  i), 
and  if  this  had  been  true,  we  might  have  had  a  new  reason  why  the  author  of 
Acts  viii.  added  the  gloss  '  this  is  desert '  to  his  description  of  Gaza  ;  but,  as 
Schurer  remarks,  we  have  coins  of  the  years  immediately  following,  which 
testify  to  the  city's  continued  prosperity  (cf.  De  Saulcy,  Ntim.  de  la  T.S.,  p. 
214).  However  this  may  be,  the  process  of  the  return  of  the  city  to  its  old 
site,  which  may  have  begun,  as  I  say,  before  Philip's  time,  was  completed  in 
the  following  centuries,  and  the  reason  of  it  is  clear.  The  land  trade  was 
always  likely  to  prevail  over  the  sea  trade  on  such  a  coast,  and  the  old  site 
had,  besides  the  road,  its  fertility  and  fifteen  w'ells.     In  363  a.d.  the  Gazans 


1 88    The  Historical  Geography  of  tJie  Holy  Land 

of  the  city's  god,  Marna.  Marna,  Lord  or  our  Lord/  was 
the  Baal  of  Gaza,  Lord  of  Heaven  and  sun  and  rain,  whom 
it  was  easy  to  identify  with  Zeus.  A  statue,  discovered  a 
short  time  since  at  Tell-el-'Ajjul,  is  supposed  to  be  the 
image  of  Marna,  and  it  bears  resemblance  to  the  Greek 
face  of  the  Father  of  gods  and  men.^  Around  him  were 
Zeus  Nikephorus,  Apollo,  Aphrodite,  Tychc,  Proserpina, 
Hecate — nearly  the  whole  Syrian  pantheon.  Truly  the 
Church  of  Gaza  dwelt,  like  the  Church  of  Pergamos,  where 
Satan's  seat  is  :  and  like  her  she  had  her  many  martyrs.^ 
Constantine,  finding  the  inland  Gaza's  authorities  obdur- 
ately pagan,  gave  a  separate  constitution  to  the  sea-town, 
or  Maiumas,  which  he  entitled  Constantia,  and  there  was 
a  bishop  of  this  besides  the  Bishop  of  Gaza.  But  Julian 
took  these  privileges  away.  For  generations  the  rival 
cries  '  Marna,'  '  Jesus,'  rent  the  streets  and  circuses.  How 
the  Church  in  402  finally  won  the  political  victory  under 
Theodosius  and  her  fam.ous  Bishop  Porphyry  we  have 
already  seen.*  After  this  the  schools  of  Gaza  in  philosophy 
and  rhetoric  grew  more  and  more  distinguished.  Students, 
it  is  said,  left  Athens  to  learn  the  Attic  style  in  Philistia, 
and  even  Persia  borrowed  her  teachers.-''  We  get  a  glimpse 
of  the  citizens  in  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  *  very 
honest,  beautiful  with  all  liberality,  lovers  of  pilgrims.'  ^ 
But  in  635  Gaza  became  Moslem,  and,  for  obvious 
reasons,  gradually  declined   to  the   rank  of  a  respectable 

believed  themselves  to  be  on  the  same  site  as  Old  Gaza,  and  the  temples 
destroyed  in  402,  and  the  churches  built  in  their  stead,  occupied  the  site  of 
the  city  to-day  which  agrees  with  the  description  of  the  site  of  Gaza  taken 
by  Alexander  the  Great  (Arrian,  Anab.  ii.  26).  Jerome's  statement  in  the 
Oiiomasticon  is  too  vague  to  be  taken  into  account. 

1  Cf.  'Mapav  add  of  I  Cor.  xvi.  22.  -  P.E.F.Q.,  1SS2. 

^  Euseb.  H.E.  and  Sozomen /aw/w.  *  P.  180  f. 

^  For  details  see  Stark,  pp.  631-645.  *  See  p.  182  n.  3. 


The  Philistines  and  their  Cities  189 

station  of  traffic.  Even  with  the  Crusaders  her  mlHtary 
importance  did  not  revive.  They  found  her  ahnost  deserted, 
and  they  took  no  trouble  to  fortify  her.  Their  chief  for- 
tress in  PhiHstia  was  Askalon,  and  their  southern  outpost 
was  Daroma,  now  Deir-el-Belat,  on  the  Wady,  three  hours 
south  of  Gaza. 

Near  Gaza  there  was  a  town,  Anthedon,^  which  occurs 
in  Josephus,  and  is  mentioned  by  PHny,  Ptolemy,  and 
Sozomen.  Alexander  Janneus  took  it  when  he  took 
Gaza  :  it  was  rebuilt  and  enfranchised  under  the  Romans, 
and  in  Christian  times  had  a  bishop.^  Near  this  town,  then 
called  Tadun,  the  Moslems  defeated  the  Byzantines  in 
635.  The  site  was  lost  till  the  other  day,  when  Herr  Gatt 
heard  the  name  Teda  given  by  a  native  to  some  ruins 
twenty-five  minutes  north  of  Gaza  harbour,  and  near  the 
sea.^   Anthedon  must  have  been  virtually  a  suburb  of  Gaza. 

We  take  next  Askalon,  or  as  the  Hebrews  called  it, 
'Ashkelon.  The  site,  which  to-day  bears  the  name,*  has 
been  already  described  :  it  is  a  rocky  amphi- 
theatre  in  the  low  bank  of  the  coast,  and  filled 
by  Crusading  ruins.^  Since  the  fortifications,  as  at  Cassarea, 
are  bound  together  by  pillars  of  Herod's  time,  it  is  certain 
that  the  Askalon,  which  Herod  embellished,*^  stood  here 

^  Josephus  xiii.  Antt.  xiii.  3  ;  xv.  4  ;  i.  Wars,  iv.  2  ;  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  v. 
14;   Ptol.,  Geogr.  v.  16.  -Acta  Concilia  rum. 

^  This  proves  that  Pliny  was  wrong  in  putting  Anthedon  inland  from  Gaza, 
and  Ptolemy  right  in  calling  it  a  coast  town.  For  an  account  of  Gatt's  dis- 
covery, see  Z.D.P.V.  vii.  5  ff.  ;  cf.  140,  141.  It  contains  the  following 
beautiful  summary  of  tradition.  After  asking  the  name  of  the  place  and  hear- 
ing it  was  Teda,  Gatt  said  to  his  informant :  '  Whence  knowest  thou  that  ?  ' 
'  From  those  who  have  lived  Ijcfore  me  have  I  heard  it.  Is  it  not  with  you 
as  with  us — some  are  born  and  others  die,  and  the  old  tell  the  young  what 
they  know  ? ' 

■*  In  Arabic 'Askalan,  with  initial  'Ayin  instead  of  Aleph. 

•*  See  description  by  Guthe,  with  plan  by  Schick,  Z.D.P.  V.  ii.  164  ff. 

*  i.  Wars  xxi.  1 1. 


190   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

also,  though  extending  farther  inland  :  and  there  is  no  hint 
in  Josephus  that  Herod's  Askalon  occupied  any  other  site 
than  that  of  the  old  Philistine  city.  If  this  be  so,  then  of 
all  the  Philistine  Pentapolis,  Askalon  was  the  only  one 
which  lay  immediately  on  the  sea.^  This  fact,  combined 
with  distance  from  the  trunk-road  on  which  Gaza,  Ashdod, 
and  Ekron  stand,  is  perhaps  the  explanation  of  a  certain 
singularity  in  Askalon's  history,  when  compared  with  that 
of  her  sisters.  The  town  has  no  natural  strength,  but  is 
very  well  watered. 

Take  her  in  her  period  of  greatest  fame.  During  the 
Crusades  Askalon  combined  within  herself  the  significance 
Askalon  in  °^  ^^^  ^^^  fortrcsscs  of  Pliilistia,  and  proved  the 
the  Crusades.  ]^gy  ^q  south-west  Palestine.  To  the  Arabs 
she   was  the  '  Bride  of  Syria,'   '  Syria's   Summit.'  ^     The 

^  Doubt  upon  this  point  has  arisen  solely  from  these  facts,  that  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Council  of  Constantinople,  536,  there  are  mentioned  both  a  Bishop  of 
Askalon  and  a  Bishop  of  the  Port  or  Maiumas  of  Askalon,  and  that  Antoninus 
Placentinus  (c.  33),  A.D.  570,  and  Benjamin  of  Tudela  mention  two  Ascalons 
from  which  Pusey  drew  the  conclusion  that  the  Philistine  city  lay  inland 
(P.E.F.Q.,  1874).  These  data  are  important,  but  cannot  counterbalance 
the  positive  assertions  of  Josephus  that  Herod's  Askalon,  which  was  the 
Crusader's  Ascalon  on  the  coast,  was  an  ancient  city  (iii.  Wars,  ii.  i),  and  520 
stadia  from  Jerusalem,  too  great  a  distance  for  any  but  a  coast  town. 
Josephus  nowhere  describes  Askalon  as  maritime  (in  the  passage  just  quoted 
he  says  it  was  walled  about),  unless  in  i.  Wais,  xxi.  11,  the  clause  which  de- 
scribes the  Laodiceans  as  dwelling  on  the  sea-shore  covers  also  the  inhabitants 
of  Askalon  in  the  next  clause.  It  is  possible  that  ancient  Askalon  spread  far 
inland  :  the  hollow  by  the  sea  is  very  small,  the  Crusading  town  there  was 
little  more  than  a  fortress,  and  ancient  ruins,  of  what  must  have  been  large 
edifices,  lie  far  inland  (cf.  Guerin, /«<://^  ii.  134.)  The  harbour  town  may  have 
been  definitely  separated  from  the  town  behind.  Conder's  suggestion  that  a 
Khurbet  Askalon  in  the  Shephelah  may  be  the  Askalon  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Council  of  Constantinople,  has  nothing  to  support  it  but  the  name  (P.E.F. 
Mem.).  Guerin's  idea  that  the  inhabitants  tried  to  create  a  better  port  than 
that  at  their  feet,  either  north  or  south,  may  be  the  solution  of  the  difficulty. 
He  found  no  traces  of  such  ;  but  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  next  stream  to  the 
south  bears  the  name  among  others  of  the  Nahr  'Askulan. 

-  Le  Strange,  Palestine  under  the  Moslems. 


The  Philisti7ies  and  their  Cities  191 

Egyptians  held  her  long  after  the  Crusaders  were  settled 
in  Jerusalem.  She  faced  the  Christian  outposts  at  Ramleh, 
resisted  many  assaults,  and  discharged  two  expeditions  up 
to  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  before  she  was  captured  by 
Baldwin  III.  in  11 54.  The  scene  of  two  more  battles 
Askalon  was  retaken  by  Saladin  in  1187,  and  dismantled 
five  years  later  when  he  retired  upon  Jerusalem.  The 
Christians  tried  to  rebuild  the  fortress,  but  the  truce  came, 
one  of  the  articles  of  which  was  that  the  town  should  be 
fortified  by  neither  party,  and  it  was  finally  demolished  by 
Bibars  in  1270.  This  fierce  contest  and  jealousy  between 
powers  occupying  respectively  Syria  and  Egypt,  the 
plains  and  the  hills,  amply  certify  the  strategical  importance 
of  the  old  Philistine  site.  That  through  all  the  Crusades, 
Askalon  should  have  enjoyed  chief  importance,  while  Gaza 
had  hardly  any  is  certainly  due  to  the  situation  on  the 
coast.  Both  Moslems  and  Christians  had  fleets  which  from 
time  to  time  supplied  and  supported  Askalon  from  the 
sea. 

It  may  have  been  this  same  touch  with  the  sea  which 
proved  Askalon's  value  to  its  ancient  masters,  especially  if 
it  be  here  that  the  Philistines  were  reinforced  by 

Askalon  in 

direct  immigration  from  Crete.^     Jeremiah  con-    the  History 
nects  it  with  the  sea-shore.^     In  David's  lamen- 
tation over  Saul,  it  is  not  Gath  and  Gaza,  but  Gath  and 
Ashkelon  which  are  taken  as  two  typical  Philistine  cities. 
Publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Ashkelon  :  it  may  be  that  these 
were  bazaars  ;  ^  and  there  is  a  sound  of  trade,  a  clinking  of 

^  Hence  the  Chercthim,  but  see  p.  169  fif.  As  we  have  seen,  Askalon  was  a 
fortress  in  Ramses  11.  's  time,  before  the  Philistines  came  :  taken  by  Ramses  II. 
from  the  Hittitcs,  cf.  Bnigsch,  Geogr.  Inschr.  altaegyptischer  Denkmaler\\. 

'^  jclvii.  7.  "*  2  Sair>.  i.  20,  cf.  2  Kings  xx.  34. 


192    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

shekels,  about  the  city's  very  name.^  Askalon  was  ahvays 
opulent  and  spacious.'-^  The  Assyrian  flood  covered  all 
things,  and  Askalon  suffered  from  it  as  much  as  her  neigh- 
bours.^ But  in  the  times  of  the  Maccabees  she  recovered 
her  distinction.  She  was  not  so  bitter  to  Judaism  as  the 
other  Hellenic  towns,  and  so  escaped  their  misfortunes  at 
the  hands  of  Jonathan.'*  When  Alexander  Janneus  devas- 
tated Gaza,  Askalon  kept  her  peace  with  that  excitable 
savage.  She  was  the  first  in  Philistia  to  secure  the  pro- 
tection of  Rome,  and  enjoyed  her  freedom  earlier  and  more 
continuously  than  the  rest.  Through  Roman  and  Byzan- 
tine times  she  was  a  centre  of  Hellenic  culture,  producing 
even  more  grammarians  and  philosophers  than  her  neigh- 
bours." 

If  xVskalon  takes  her  name  from  trade,  Ashdod,  like 

Gaza,  takes  hers  from  her  military  strength.*^     Her  citadel 

was  probably  the   low  hill,  beside  the  present 

Ashdod. 

village.  It  was  well  watered,  and  commanded 
the  mouth  of  the  most  broad  and  fertile  wady  in  Philistia. 
It  served,  also,  as  the  half-way  station  on  the  great  road 
between  Gaza  and  Joppa,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  inland 
branch  broke  off  here  for  Ekron  and  Ramleh.  The  ruins 
of  a  great  khan  have  outlived  those  of  the  fortresses  from 
which  the  city  took  her  name.  Ashdod  also,  like  her 
sisters,  had  suffered  her  varying  fortunes  in  the  war 
with   Israel,  and    like  them  suffered  for  her    position    in 

^  Ashkelon,  from  shakal,  to  weigh,  or  to  pay.     Hence  shekel  or  shekel. 

^  For  Herod's  time,  cf.  Josephus  iii.  IVars  ii.  i,  etc.  ;  Under  the  Moslems, 
Le  Strange,  op.  cit. 

^  Cf.  Conqziests  of  Saigon  and  Sennacherib  :  Records  of  the  Past. 

*  I  Mace.  X.  86  ;  xi.  60. 

^  P.E.F.Q.,  1S88,  22-23,  flescribestwo  statues  found  at  Askalon.  Reinach 
(Revue  des  Etudes  /iiives,  1888)  ascribes  them  to  the  first  century  B.C.  They 
are  Victories.  ''  i  Sam.  iv.  ;  2  Chron.  xxvi.  8. 


The  Pliilis lines  and  their  Cities  193 

the  way  between  Assyria  and  Egypt.  Sargon  besieged 
and  took  her,  as  related  in  Isaiah  ;  ^  Sennacherib  besieged 
and  took  her,-  but  her  most  wonderful  siege,  which 
Herodotus  calls  the  longest  in  history,  was  that  for  twenty- 
two  years  by  Psammetichus.^  Judas  Maccabeus  cleared 
Ashdod  of  idols  in  163,  and  in  148  Jonathan  and  Simon 
burnt  her  temple  of  Dagon.''^  But,  like  Askalon,  Ashdod 
was  now  thoroughly  Greek,  and  was  enfranchised  by 
Pompey. 

Ekron,  the  modern  'Akir,  as  Robinson  discovered,  won 
its  place  in  the  league  by  possession  of  an  oracle  of 
Baal-zebub,  or  Baal  of  the  Flies,^  and  by  a  site 
on  the  northern  frontier  of  Philistia,  in  the  Vale 
of  Sorek,  where  a  pass  breaks  through  the  low  hills  to 
Ramleh.  That  is  to  say,  like  so  many  more  ancient  cities, 
Ekron  had  the  double  fortune  of  a  sanctuary  with  a 
market  on  a  good  trade  route.  Ekron  was  nearer  the 
territory  of  Israel  than  the  other  Philistine  towns,  and  from 
this  certain  consequences  flowed.  It  was  from  Ekron  that 
the  ark  was  returned  to  Israel,  by  the  level  road  up  the 
Sorek  valley  to  Beth-shemesh,  only  ten  miles  away.  Amos 
uses  a  phrase  of  Ekron  as  if  she  were  more  within  reach  than 
her  sister  towns  :  ^  she  was  ceded  to  the  Maccabees  by  the 
Syrians  ;  '^  and,  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  Jews 
readily  came  to  her,  for,  like  Lydda,  she  was  in  a  valley  that 
led  down  from  Jerusalem.  To-day  the  Joppa-Jerusalem 
railway  travels  past  her.  With  Ekron  we  may  take  a  town 
that  stood  very  near  in  rank  to  the  first  Philistine  five — 
Jabneh,  or  Jabneel,'^  with  a  harbour  at  the  mouth  of  the 

^  Isa,  XX.  -   I  Rec.  of  Past.  v. 

3  Herod,  ii.  157.  ^  i  Mace.  v.  68  ;  x.  83,  84. 

''  2  Kings  i.  2.  "  Amos  i.  8.  ''  i  Mace.  x.  89. 

«  That  is,  God  buildeth,  Josh.  xv.  11. 

N 


194   ^-^^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Rubin,  famous  in  the  history  of  the  Jews  for  their  fre- 
quent capture  of  it,^  and  for  the  settlement  there  of  the 
Jewish  Sanhedrim  and  a  school  of  Rabbinic  theology- 
after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus.  Yebna,  as 
the  town  is  now  called,  lies  in  a  fertility  of  field  and 
grove  that  helps  us  to  understand  the  repute  of  the  district 
for  populousness.-  The  ruins  are  those  of  churches  built 
by  the  Crusaders,  who  called  the  place  by  a  corruption 
of  its  full  name,  reversing  /  and  n  as  usual,  Ibelin  for 
Jabniel. 

Now,  where  is  Gath  ?     Gath,  the  city  of  giants,  died  out 
with  the  giants.    That  we  have  to-day  no  certain  knowledge 

of  her  site  is  due  to  the  city's  early  and  absolute 
Gath.  ,.  A  1 

disappearance.  Amos,  about  750  B.C.,  pomts 
to  her  recent  destruction  by  Assyria  as  a  warning  that 
Samaria  must  now  follow.  Before  this  time,  Gath  has 
invariably  been  mentioned  in  the  list  of  Philistine  cities, 
and  very  frequently  in  the  account  of  the  wars  between 
them  and  Israel.  But,  after  this  time,  the  names  of  the 
other  four  cities  are  given  without  Gath — by  Amos  himself, 
by  Jeremiah,  by  Zephaniah,  and  in  the  Book  of  Zechariah  ^ 
— and  Gath  does  not  again  appear  in  either  the  Old 
Testament,*  or  the  Books  of  the  Maccabees,  or  those 
parts  of  Josephus  which  treat  of  centuries  subsequent  to 
the  eighth.  This  can  only  mean  that  Gath,  both  place 
and  name,  was  totally  destroyed  about  750  B.C. ;  and 
renders  valueless  all  statements  as  to  the  city's  site 
which  are  based  on  evidence  subsequent  to  that  date— as, 

1  I  Mace.  V.  58. 

^  Strabo,  vii.  i8.  2.     Philo  in  his  account  of  his  embassy  to  Caligula. 
^  Amos  i.  6-8  ;  Jer.  xlvii.  ;  Zeph.  ii.  2-7 ;  Zech.  ix.  5-7. 
■*  Micah  i.  10  :    Tell  it  not  in  Gath  is  hardly  an  exception,  for  the  expres- 
sion is  proverbial. 


The  Philistines  and  their  Cities  195 

for  instance,  that  of  the  Onojiiasticon,  on  which  so  much 
stress  has  been  laid  by  recent  writers  on  this  question,^ 
or  that  of  the  Crusaders,  who  identified  Gath  with  the  site 
of  Jabneh.- 

When  we  turn  to  the  various  appearances  of  Gath  in 
history,  before  the  time  of  Amos,  what  they  tell  us  about 
the  site  is  this  :  Gath  lay  inland,  on  the  borders  of  Hebrew 
territory,  and  probably  in  the  north  of  Philistia.  When 
the  ark  was  taken  from  Ashdod,  it  was  brought  about,  that 
is  inland,  again  to  Gath.^  Gath  was  the  Philistine  city 
most  frequently  taken  by  the  Israelites,  and,  indeed,  was 
considered  along  with  Ekron  as  having  originally  belonged 
to  Israel :  *  after  taking  Gath,  Hazael  set  his  face  to  go  7ip 
to  Jerusaleml"  All  this  implies  an  inland  position,  and 
hence  nearly  all  writers  have  sought  Gath  among  the 
hills  of  the  Shephelah  or  at  their  junction  with  the  plain 
— at  the  south-east  angle  of  the  plain,*^  at  Kefr  Dikkerin,'' 
at  Deir  Dubban,^  and  at  Beit-Jibrin,  or  'home  of  big  men.' 
The  only  argument  for  so   southerly  a  position  is  Gath's 

^  Onomasiicon,  art.  ViO,  '  and  it  is  even  now  a  village  as  you  go  from 
Eleutheropolis  (Beit-Jibrin)  to  Diospolis  (Lydda),  about  the  fifth  milestone 
from  Eleutheropolis.'  Robinson,  Conder,  Guerin,  all  make  much  of  this 
valueless  tradition. 

-  Will,  of  Tyre,  xv.  24 ;  Fel.  Fab.  ii.  425,  ^  i  Sam.  v.  8. 

■*  Gath  was  taken  under  Samuel  (l  Sam.  vii.  14),  and  is  then  described  as 
originally  Israelite.  Taken  also  by  David,  according  to  i  Chron.  xviii.  i  ; 
but  this  is  perhap'^  due   to  reading   (rightly  or  wrongly)  the   parallel   text, 

1  Sam.  vii.  14:  ]\Ietheg  Ha  Ammah,  bridle  of  the  inother-city,  as  if  it  were 
Gath  Ha  Ammah,  Gath  the  metropolis.  Taken  also  by  Uzziah  (2  Chron. 
xxvi.  6),  this  must  have  been  early  in  his  long  reign.     But  the  statement,  in 

2  Chron.  xi.  5-8,  that  Gath  was  among  the  cities  rebuilt  by  Rehoboam  may, 
if  Gath  be  the  true  reading  (Josej^hus  viii.  Antt.  x.  i  substitutes  Ipa  or 
Ipan),  mean,  from  the  other  towns  mentioned,  another  Gath,  near  Beit-Jibrin. 

^  2  Kings  xii.  7. 

®  Trelawney  Saunders,  Introdtiction  to  Survey,  etc. 

"  Guerin,  yWtV.  *  Robinson. 


196   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

connection  with  Ziklag  in  the  story  of  David  and  Achish,^ 
and  this  is  scarcely  conclusive.  On  the  other  hand,  Gath  is 
mentioned  between  Askalon  and  Ekron,^  several  times  with 
Ekron,  and  especially  in  the  pursuit  of  the  Philistines  from 
the  Vale  of  Elah.^  In  a  raid  of  Uzziah,  Gath  is  coupled 
with  Jamnia  and  Ashdod.*  None  of  this  prevents  us  from 
fixing  on  a  site  much  favoured  by  modern  writers,  Tell-es- 
Safiyeh,  which  commands  the  entrance  to  the  Vale  of 
Elah  and  looks  across  Philistia  to  the  sea.  Steep  limestone 
scarps  rise  boldly  from  the  plain  to  a  broad  plateau,  still 
known  by  the  natives  as  the  Castle.  During  the  Crusades, 
King  Fulke  fortified  it,  it  was  destroyed  by  Saladin,  and  is 
said  to  have  been  restored  by  Richard.  They  called  it 
Blanchegarde,  from  its  white  frontlet.  It  is  altogether  too 
important  a  site  to  have  been  neglected  by  either  Israel 
or  the  Philistines,  and  this  lends  the  argument  in  its 
favour  some  weight.  But  it  is  not  enough  for  proof. 
Tell-es-Safiyeh  may  have  been  Libnah,  the  White,^  or  the 
Mizpeh  of  the  Shephelah.'^  Gath  has  also  been  placed  at 
Beit-Jibrin,  the  'home  of  big  men,'  both  because  this 
might  well  have  served  as  a  by-name  for  the  city  of 
the  giants,''  and  is  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mareshah,^  and 
because  Beit-Jibrin  has  not  been  identified  with  any  other 
great  town  of  antiquity.  But  Beit-Jibrin  is  too  far  south, 
and  does  not  lie  on  the  line  of  the  rout  of  the  Philistines 
after  the  battle  of  Shocoh.^  We  must  look  farther  north 
and  towards  Ekron.  The  first  Book  of  Chronicles  mentions 
a  Gath  convenient  to  Ajalon  and  the  hills  of  Ephraim,^°  but 

^  I  Sam.  xxvii.  2-6.  "  I  Sam.  v.  8. 

*  Ibid.  xvii.  52.  •*  2  Chron.  xxvi.  6. 
^  Josh.  X.  29,  31  f.;  2  Kings  viii.  22,  etc.        "  Josh.  xv.  38. 

^  2  Sam.  xxi.  22.  ^  Cf.  Moresheth-gath,  Mic.  i.  14. 

*  I  Sam.  xvii.  52.  1°  i  Chron.  vii.  21  ;  viii.  13. 


The  Philistines  and  their  Cities  197 

this  may  be  Gath-rimmon,  which  lay  towards  Joppa.  The 
case  is  made  more  difficult  by  the  fact  that  Gath  is  a 
generic  name,  meaning  '  winepress,'  and  was  applied,  as  wc 
might  have  expected,  to  several  villages,  usually  with 
another  name  attached.^  Remarkably  enough,  like  their 
great  namesake,  they  have  all  disappeared,  and  in  that 
land  of  the  vine  almost  no  site  called  after  the  wine- 
press has  held  its  name. 

This,  then, — that  Gath  lay  inland,  on  the  borders  of 
Israel,  probably  near  to  Ekron,  and  perhaps  in  the  mouth 
of  a  pass  leading  up  to  Jerusalem, — is  all  we  know  of 
the  town  which  was  once  so  famous,  and  which  wholly 
vanished  2500  years  ago.^  Gath  perished  with  its  giant 
race. 


FURTHER  NOTE  ON  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PHILISTINES. 

Since  this  chapter  was  in  the  printer's  hands,  I  have  seen  the  passages  on 
the  Philistines  in  W.  Max  Muller's  Asien  u.  Europa  nach  den  alt-iigyptischen 
Denkm'dkrn  (Leipzig,  1893).  His  statements  on  pp.  361,  387  ff.,  amount  to 
this.  Among  the  pirates  from  Asia  Minor  whom  Ramses  in.  {cir.  1200) 
attacked  were  Pu-ra-sa-ti,  'from  the  midst  of  the  sea,'  Danona,  Ta-k-ka-ra, 
etc.,  with  European  features  and  some  of  the  costume  of  Asia  Minor.  They 
may  have  been  Ancient-Lycian  tribes  from  the  east  of  the  Aegean  (p.  388) ; 
the  theory  is  not  impossible  that  they  were  pre-Hellenic  inhabitants  of  the 
Greek  Isles,  perliaps  the  'Ere6Kp7jres  of  Od.  xix.  176,  thrown  into  movement 
by  the  Greek  advance  westward  (Danona  and  Ta-k-ka-ra,  perhaps  La.va.ot. 


^  Cf.  Gath-ha-hepher,  the  birthplace  of  Jonah,  in  Galilee,  Gath-rimmon 
near  Joppa  :  Gath-rimmon  in  Eastern  Manasseh,  Joshua  xxi.  25. 

-  For  Gath,  in  the  Egyptian  records,  see  2  R.P.  v.  48,  Nos.  63  and  70; 
ii.  64,  65.  The  Assyrian  lists  mention  a  Giinti  or  Guntu  near  Ashdod, 
which  some  have  identified  as  Gath.  Guntu  may  be  the  Egyptian  Ka-na-ti 
given  in  Thothmes'  list  (MiiUer,  Asien  u.  Europa,  etc.,  161).  Midler  (//^ 
p.  159  and  p.  393)  suggests  Kn-tu  of  Shishank's  list  as  one  of  the  many 
Gaths  of  Palestine. 


198    The  Histo7'ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  TEi;\-pot  ?  ?).  The  Pu-ra-sa-ti  are  the  chief  tribe  ;  they  are  the  Philistines. 
In  1200  Ramses  iii.  represents  them  as  unsettled.  The  Papyrus  Golenischeff 
describes  the  other  tribe  Ta-k-ka-ra  as  settled  in  Dor  by  1050.  The 
Philistine  invasion  of  the  Maritime  Plain  from  Gaza  to  Carmel,  mentioned  in 
Deut.  ii.  23,  Mtiller  dates  from  a  little  before  this.  He  supposes  the  sudden 
decline  of  their  power  in  David's  reign  to  be  due  to  an  invasion  of  the 
Maritime  Plain  by  Egypt.  Shishank's  list  of  conquests  {circa  980  B.C.) 
excludes  the  Philistine  cities  as  if  already  Egyptian. 

W.  Max  Mtiller  argues  against  Ebers'  theory  that  Kaphtor  is  the  Kaft-vere 
=  Greater  Phoenicia  =  the  Delta,  denying  that  Kft  is  Phoenicia.  He  takes 
Kfte  or  Kfto  as  the  name  of  Western  Asia  Minor,  and  holds  that  the 
assonance  with  Kaphtor  is  more  than  accidental,  though  the  r  in  the  latter 
is  not  explainable. 

Additional  Notes  to  Second  Edition  (October  1894). — In  a  review  of  the 
first  edition  in  the  Acadetny  Prof.  Sayce  says,  '  Prof.  Smith  is  fully  justified  in 
rejecting  my  view  that  the  Philistines  were  a  sort  of  Egyptian  outpost '  (see 
15.  184,  n.  2).  'The  fact  that  Rameses  in.  claims  to  have  captured  Gaza 
seems  to  show  that  it  was  hostile  to  Egypt  after  its  occupation  by  the  Philis- 
tine invaders.  ...  I  must  also  withdraw  my  acceptance  of  the  etymology 
proposed  by  Prof.  Ebers  for  the  name  of  Caphtor'  (cf.  p.  170,  n.  3).  'My 
discovery  of  the  hieroglyphic  form  of  the  name  at  Kom  Ombo  last  winter 
proves  that  it  cannot  be  a  compound  of  Kaft  and  the  Egyptian  ur,  "great," 
whatever  else  it  may  be.  But  the  hieroglyphic  spelling  equally  shows  that 
Dr.  W.  Max  Mtiller  is  incorrect  in  making  it  another  form  of  Kaft.  Nor  can 
he  be  right  in  making  Kaft  a  part  of  Asia  Minor,  in  spite  of  the  ingenuity  of 
the  arguments  by  which  the  opinion  is  supported.  The  Decree  of  Kanopos 
states  categorically  that  Kaft  was  Phoenicia,  and  the  Egyptian  scribes  of  the 
Ptolemaic  era  were  more  likely  to  have  known  the  meaning  of  the  name  than 
a  German  scholar  of  to-day.' 

Additional  Note  to  p.  182,  note  3. — Felix  Fabri  (1483),  ii.  93.  In  Felix 
Fabri  Gaza  is  always  spelt  Gazara. 

Additional  Note  to  p.  183,  n.  3. — Cf.  Marciani.  Her.  Feripl.  Maris 
Exterior.  (Mtiller,  Geog.  Grccci  Min.  i.  p.  522.)  'Gaza  distant  from  the 
head  of  the  ^lanitic  Gulf  1260  stadia.' 

Additional  Note  to  p.  184,  note  5. — Mr.  G.  Buchanan  Gray  points  out  that 
the  LXX.  reading  of  Judges  i.  18  cannot  be  derived  from  the  Hebrew 
text ;  it  was  easy  for  LXX.  to  slip  in  a  '  not.' 


CHAPTER   X 


THE     SHEPHEI.AH 


For  tin's  Chapter  consult  Maps  J.  and  IV. 


THE  SHEPHELAH 

OVER  the  Philistine  Plain,  as  you  come  up  from  the 
coast,  you  see  a  sloping  moorland  break  into 
scalps  and  ridges  of  rock,  and  over  these  a  loose  gathering 
of  chalk  and  limestone  hills,  round,  bare  and  featureless, 
but  with  an  occasional  bastion  flung  well  out  in  front  of 
them.  This  is  the  so-called  Shephelah — a  famous  theatre 
of  the  history  of  Palestine — the  debatable  ground  between 
Israel  and  the  Philistines,  between  the  Maccabees  and  the 
Syrians,  between  Saladin  and  the  Crusaders. 

The  name  Shephelah  means  low  or  lowland}  The  Sep- 
tuagint  mostly  renders  it  by  plain^  and  even  in  very  recent 
works  2  it  has  been  applied  to  the  Plain  of  Philistia,  But  the 
towns  assigned  by  the  Old  Testament  to  the  Shephelah 

^  A  feminine  form  from  the  verb  in  the  well-known  passage,  every  moiin- 
lain  shall  be  made  low.  It  occurs  with  a  like  meaning  in  Arabic,  and  has 
been  suggested  as  the  same  root  as  we  find  in  Seville  (Gesenius,  Thesaiti-tis, 
sub  voce).  "  t6  TreSiov  or  rj  iredivri. 

^  Stanley,  Sin.  Pal.,  Kittel,  Gesch.  i.  14,  Sieg.  Stade,  IVbrterbuch,  where 
Shephelah  =  Kustenebene.  Stade,  Gesch.  i.  157,  commits  the  opposite  error 
of  calling  the  Shephelah  the  '  westliche  Abdachung,'  as  the  Negeb  is  the 
'  siidliche  Abdachung  '  of  the  JudKan  mountain  range.  This  is  to  recognise 
correctly  the  distinction  of  the  Shephelah  from  the  Maritime  Plain  ;  but  it  is 
to  overlook  the  great  valley  between  it  and  the  Judasan  range,  which  pre- 
vents it  from  being  the  mere  slope  or  '  glacis '  of  the  latter.  Knobel  and  Dill- 
mann,  on  Josh.  xv.  33,  are  more  correct,  but  still  fail  to  appreciate  the  break 
between   the   Judrean   range  and   the  hills  of  the   Shephelah.      On   this  see 

p.   205 

201 


202    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

are  all  of  them  situated  in  the  low  hills  and  not  on  the 

plain.^    The  Philistines  are  said  to  have  made  a  raid  on  the 

cities  of  the  Shephelah,  which,  therefore,  must  have  stood 

outside  their  own  territory,  and  indeed  did  so;^ 

The  Shephelah 

=TheLow  and  in  another  passage^  the  time  is  recalled 
when  the  Jews  inhabited  tlie  Shephelah,  yet  it  is 
well  known  they  never  inhabited  the  Maritime  Plain.  In 
the  First  Book  of  the  Maccabees,  too,  I  notice  that  the  town 
of  Adida  is  described  in  one  passage  as  '  in  the  Shephelah,' 
and  in  another  as  '  over  against  the  Plain  ; '  ^  while  in  the 
Talmud  the  Shephelah  is  expressly  distinguished  from  the 
Plain,  Lydda,  at  the  base  of  the  Low  Hills,  being  marked 
as  the  point  of  division.^  We  conclude,  therefore,  that 
though  the  name  may  originally  have  been  used  to  include 

^  Joshua  XV.  33,  2  Chronicles  xxviii.  18.  Ajalon  in  its  vale,  and  Gimzo  to 
the  west  of  it  ;  Zorah,  Eshtaol  and  Beth-shemesh  in  the  Vale  of  Sorek  ; 
Gederah  to  the  north,  and  En-gannim,  Zanoah,  and  Jarmuth  within  three 
miles  to  the  south  of  Sorek  :  AduUam  and  Shocoh  up  the  Vale  of  Elah  (W.  es 
Sunt)  :  Tappuah  in  the  W.  el  'Afranj  ;  Mareshah,  Lachish,  and  Eglon  to  the 
south-west  of  Beit-Jibrin.  The  others  given  have  not  been  properly  identi- 
fied. Vv.  45-47  of  Joshua  XV.,  which  give  Philistine  towns  in  the  Plain, 
are  probably  a  later  addition.  Eusebius  describes  the  Shephelah  as  all  the 
low  country  (TreStvTj)  lying  about  Eleutheropolis  (Beit-Jibrin)  to  the  north 
and  the  west.  It  is  about  Beit-Jibrin  that  Clermont  Ganneau  and  Conder 
claim  to  have  re-discovered  the  name,  in  its  Arabic  form,  Sifla  {Tent 
Work,  277). 

-  2  Chronicles  xxviii.  18  ;  cf.  Obad.  19.  •'  Zechariah  vii.  7. 

■*  I  Mace.  xii.  38,  xiii.  13.  ^v  t^  l!i€(p7j\q:  and  /card  irpbduwov  rod  ireoiov. 
Hadid  was  a  town  of  Benjamin,  Ezra  ii.  33.  It  occurs  in  the  lists  of 
Thothmes  ni.  as  Hadita  ii.  R.P.  48. 

^  Talmud,  Jer.  Shebiith  ix.  2.  The  passage  runs  :  p^yill  n?3ti'  inn 
rnin''2.  •  in  Judah  there  are  mountain,  Shephelah,  and  valley  land,'  or 
'  plain.'  And  a  note  to  the  Mishna  on  the  country  from  Beth-horon  to  the 
sea   runs  :  n^l  }nin  TT'nO  p»J?1   H^SB^I  in  Hi  LJ'''  N\"l  11J?  plH""  "1  -ION 

p»y  D''n  lyi  Ti^D  nW  ni!?  nyi  dixdj^d  nn  dinon,  which  is :  '  r. 

Johanan  said  also,  In  that  region  there  are  Mountain,  Shephelah,  and  Plain. 
From  Beth-horon  to  Emmaus  is  Mountain,  from  Emmaus  to  Lydda  is 
Shephelah,  from  Lydda  to  the  sea  is  Plain.' 


The  Shephelak  203 


the  Maritime  Plain,^  and  this  wider  use  may  have  been 
occasionally  revived,  yet  the  Shephelah  proper  was  the 
region  of  low  hills  between  that  plain  and  the  high  Central 
Range.^  The  Shephelah  would  thus  be  equivalent  to  our 
'  downs,'  low  hills  as  distinguished  from  high,  did  it  not 
also  include  the  great  amount  of  flat  valley  land,  which  is 
as  characteristic  of  this  broken  region  as  the  subdued 
elevation  of  its  hills.  The  name  has  been  more  fitly 
compared  to  the  Scottish  '  Lowlands,'  which  likewise  are 
not  entirely  plain,  but  have  their  groups  and  ranges  of 
hills. 

How  far  north  did  the  Shephelah  run  ?  From  the  sea, 
and  across  the  Plain,  low  hills  are  seen  buttressing  the 
Central  Range  all  the  way  along.       Now  the 

Onlv  those 

name  Shephelah  might  be  correctly  applied  to  south  of 
the  whole  length  of  these  low  hills  ;  but  with 
one  exception — in  which  it  is  probably  used  for  the  low  hills 
that  separate  Carmel  from  Samaria  ^ — it  does  not  appear 
ever  to  have  extended  north  of  the  Vale  of  Ajalon.  All  the 
towns  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament  as  in  the  Shephe- 
lah are  south  of  this  ;  and  if  the  identification  be  correct 
of  '  Adida  in  the  Shephelah  '  *  with  Haditheh,  four  miles 

^  There  is  no  positive  proof  of  this  in  the  Old  Testament  ;  but  it  perhaps 
occurs  in  Eusebius  (see  previous  page,  note  i). 

-  It  is  easy  to  see  why,  if  it  had  once  extended  to  the  coast,  it  shrank  to  the 
low  hills,  for  the  Plain  had  a  name  of  its  own,  Philistia,  while  the  Jews 
required  to  distinguish  the  low  hills  from  the  Central  Range. 

"  In  Joshua  xi.  i6,  after  the  Mount,  the  Negeb,  the  Arabah  are  men- 
tioned, comes  the  phrase,  and  the  I\Iount  of  Israel  and  its  Shephelah.  As  I 
have  elsewhere  pointed  out,  this  can  only  be  that  part  of  the  Central  Range 
which  fell  within  the  kingdom  of  North  Israel,  and  the  low  hills  between  it 
and  Carmel,  cf.  Josh.  xi.  2.  The  Jer.  Talmud  gives  an  a]iplication  of  the  name 
Shephelah  across  Jordan  (quoted  by  Reland,  ch.  xlvii.  p.  30S),  p3L^'^  in?3t^- 

.*  I  Mace.  xii.  38  :  koX  ^i/xuv  ipKo86/xr]ae  tt]v  'A5t5a  iv  tti  "Lecp-qKq. — evidently 
as  a  cover  to  the  road  from  Joppa  which  he  had  won  for  the  Jews.  The 
identification  is  due  to  Major  Conder. 


204   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

E.N.E.  of  Lydda,  then  this  is  the  most  northerly  instance 
of  the  name.  Roughly  speaking,  the  Shephelah  meant 
the  low  hills  south  of  Ajalon,  and  not  those  north  of 
Ajalon.  Now,  very  remarkably,  this  distinction  corre- 
sponds with  a  difference  of  a  physical  kind — in  the  rela- 
tions of  these  two  parts  of  the  low  hills  to  the  Central 
Range.  North  of  Ajalon  the  low  hills  which  run  out  on 
Sharon  are  connected  with  the  high  mountains  behind 
them.  You  ascend  to  the  latter  from  Sharon  either  by 
long  sloping  ridges,  such  as  that  which  to-day  carries  the 
telegraph-wire  and  the  high  road  from  Jaffa  to  Nablus  ;  or 
else  you  climb  up  terraces,  such  as  the  succession  of 
ranges  closely  built  upon  one  another,  by  which  the 
country  rises  from  Lydda  to  Bethel.  That  is,  the  low 
hills  west  of  Samaria  are  (to  use  the  Hebrew  phrase) 
Ashedoth  or  Slopes  of  the  Central  Range,  and  not  a  separate 
group.  But  south  of  Ajalon  the  low  hills  do  not  so  hang 
upon  the  Central  Range,  but  are  separated  from  the 
mountains  of  Judaea  by  a  series  of  valleys,  both  wide  and 
narrow,  which  run  all  the  way  from  Ajalon  to  near  Beer- 
sheba  ;  and  it  is  only  where  the  low  hills  are  thus  flung  off 
the  Central  Range  into  an  independent  group,  separating 
Judaea  from  Philistia,  that  the  name  Shephelah  seems  to 
have  been  applied  to  them.^ 

This  difference  in  the  relation  of  the  low  hills  to  the 
Central  Range,  north  and  south  of  Ajalon,  illustrates  two 
important  historical  phenomena.  First,  it  explains  some 
of  the  difference  between  the  histories  of  Samaria  and 
Judah.     While  the  low  hills  opposite  Samaria  are  really 

^  This  is  also  true  of  the  only  other  application  of  the  name  west  of  the 
Jordan,  which  I  have  suggested  in  n.  3  on  the  previous  page.  The  low 
hills  between  Carmel  and  Dothan  are  flung  off  the  Central  Range  in  the  same 
way  as  the  Shephelah  proper  is. 


The  S hep  he  l ah  205 


only  approaches,  slopes  and  terraces  of  access  to  Samaria's 
centre,  the  southern  low  hills — those  opposite  Judah — 
offer  no  furtherance  at  all  towards  this  more 

Consequent 

isolated    province :    to   have   conquered    them    difference 

1  r        •  •  A       1     between 

IS    not    to    have     got     lOOtmg    upon     it.        And     Samaria  and 

secondly,  this  division  between  the  Shephelah 
and  Judah  explains  why  the  Shephelah  has  so  much  more 
interest  and  importance  in  history  than  the  northern  low 
hills,  which  are  not  so  divided  from  Samaria.  It  is  inde- 
pendent as  they  are  not ;  and  debatable  as  they  cannot 
be.  They  are  merged  in  Samaria.  The  Shephelah  has  a 
history  of  its  own,  for  while  they  cannot  be  held  by  them- 
selves, it  can  be,  and  was,  so  held  at  frequent  famous 
periods  of  war  and  invasion. 

This  division  between  the  Shephelah  and  Judaea  is  of 
such  importance  in  the  history  of  the  land  that  it  will  be 
useful  for  us  to  follow  it  in  detail. 

As  we  ride  across  the  Maritime  Plain  from  Jaffa  towards 
the  Vale  of  Ajalon  by  the  main  road  to  Jerusalem,  we 
become  aware,  as  the  road  bends  south,  of  get-  ^j^^  division 
ting  behind  low  hills,  which  gradually  shut  out  g^^^^^^"  ^"^^ 
the  view  of  the  coast.     These  are  spurs  of  the  ^"^^  Judsea. 
Shephelah  :  we  are  at  the  back  of  it,  and  in  front  of  us  are 
the  high  hills  of  the  Central  Range,  with  the  wide  gulf  in 
them  of  the  Vale  of  Ajalon.     Near  the  so-called  half-way 
house,  the  road  to  Jerusalem  enters  a  steep  and  narrow 
defile,  the  Wady  AH,  which  is  the  real  entrance  to  the 
Central  Range,  for  at  its  upper  end  we  come  out  among 
peaks  over  2000  feet  high.     But  if,  instead  of  entering  this 
steep  defile,  we  turn  to  the  south,  crossing  a  broad  low 
watershed,  we  shall  find  ourselves  in  the  Wady  el  Ghurab, 
a  valley  running  south-west,  with  hills  to  the  east  of  us 


2o6    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

touching  2000  feet,  and  hills  to  the  west  seldom  above 
800.  The  Wady  el  Ghurab  brings  us  out  upon  the  broad 
Wady  es  Surar,  the  Vale  of  Sorek,  crossing  which  we  find 
the  mouth  of  the  Wady  en  NajiV  and  ride  still  south 
along  its  straight  narrow  bed.  Here  again  the  mountains 
to  the  east  of  us  are  over  2000  feet,  cleft  by  narrow  and 
tortuous  defiles,  difficult  ascents  to  the  Judaean  plateau 
above,  while  to  the  west  the  hills  of  the  Shephelah  seldom 
reach  1000  feet,  and  the  valleys  among  them  are  broad 
and  easy.  They  might  stand — especially  if  we  remember 
that  they  have  respectively  Jerusalem  and  Philistia  behind 
them — for  the  narrow  and  broad  ways  of  our  Lord's 
parable.  From  the  end  of  Wady  en  Najil  the  passage  is 
immediate  to  the  Vale  of  Elah,  the  Wady  es  Sunt,  at  the 
spot  where  David  slew  Goliath,  and  from  there  the  broad 
Wady  es  Sur  runs  south,  separating  by  two  or  three  miles 
the  lofty  and  compact  range  of  Judaea  on  the  east  from 
the  lower,  looser  hills  of  the  Shephelah  on  the  west.  The 
Wady  es  Sur  terminates  opposite  Hebron  :  ^  and  here  the 
dividing  hollow  turns  south-west,  and  runs  between  peaks 
of  nearly  3000  feet  high  to  the  east,  and  almost  nothing 
above  1500  to  the  west,  into  the  Wady  esh  Sheria,  which 
finds  the  sea  south  of  Gaza,  and  may  be  regarded  as  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  Shephelah.  I  have  ridden 
nearly  every  mile  of  this  great  fosse  that  has  been  planted 
along  the  ramparts  of  Judaea,  and  have  described  from  my 
own  observations  the  striking  difference  of  its  two  sides. 
All  down  the  east,  let  me  repeat,  runs  that  close  and  lofty 
barrier  of  the  Central  Range,  penetrated  only  by  difficult 
defiles,^  its  edge  turreted  here  and  there  by  a  town,  giving 

^  All  g's  are  soft  in  the  modern  Arabic  of  Palestine  ;  gli  is  like  the  French 
^x'\\\  grasseye.  -  Near  Terkumieh.  ^  Seech,  xii.,  sec.  3. 


The  Shepkelah  207 


proof  of  a  table-land  behind  ;  but  all  down  the  west  the 
low  scattered  ranges  and  clusters  of  the  Shephelah,  with 
their  shallow  dales  and  softer  brows,  much  open  ground 
and  wide  passes  to  the  sea.  Riding  along  the  fosse 
between,  I  understood  why  the  Shephelah  was  always 
debatable  land,  open  equally  to  Israelite  and  Philistine, 
and  why  the  Philistine,  who  so  easily  overran  the  Shephe- 
lah, seldom  got  farther  than  its  eastern  border,  on  which 
many  of  his  encounters  with  Israel  took  place.^ 

From  this  definition  of  its  boundaries — so  necessary  to 
our  appreciation  of  its  independence  alike  of  plain  and 
of  mountain — let  us  turn  to  a  survey  of  the  Shephelah 
itself 

The  mountains  look  on  the  Shephelah,  and  the  She- 
phelah looks  on  the  sea, — across  the  Philistine  Plain.  It 
curves  round  this  plain  from  Gaza  to  Jaffa  like 

General 

an  amphitheatre.^     But  the  amphitheatre  is  cut    aspect  of  the 

.  Shephelah. 

by  three  or  four  great  gaps,  wide  valleys  that 
come  right  through  from  the  foot  of  the  Judaean  hills  to 
the  sea.  Between  these  gaps  the  low  hills  gather  in 
clumps  and  in  short  ranges  from  500  to  800  feet  high,  with 
one  or  two  summits  up  to  1500.  The  formation  is  of 
limestone  or  chalk,  and  very  soft — therefore  irregular  and 

^  The  geology  of  this  district  has  not  yet  been  accurately  studied  ;  but  the 
distinction  between  the  Central  Range  and  the  Shephelah  seems  to  be  coinci- 
dent with  the  border  between  the  Nummulite  limestone  on  the  west  and 
the  cretaceous  on  the  east.  Cf.  also  Hull  on  p.  (yT,  of  the  Geological  Memoir 
of  the  P.E.F.  :  '  The  calcareous  sandstone  of  Philistia,'  as  Hull  designates  it, 
is  '  the  key  to  the  physical  features  of  this  part  of  Palestine,  and  accounts  for 
the  abrupt  fall  of  the  table-land  of  Central  Palestine  along  the  borders  of 
Philistia,  and  along  a  line  extending  to  the  base  of  Mount  Carmel ;  as  the 
harder  limestones  dip  under  and  pass  below  the  comparatively  softer  forma- 
tion of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  and  which  has  been  more  deeply 
denuded  than  the  former.'     See  also  p.  64. 

*  Trelawney  Saunders,  Inlioductio7i,  p.  249. 


2o8    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

almost  featureless,  with  a  few  prominent  outposts  upon  the 
plain.  In  the  cross  valleys  there  are  perennial,  or  almost 
perennial,  streams,  with  broad  pebbly  beds  ;  the  soil  is 
alluvial  and  red,  with  great  corn-fields.  But  on  the  slopes 
and  glens  of  each  hilly  maze  between  the  cross  valleys  the 
soil  is  a  grey  white ;  there  are  no  perennial  streams,  and 
few  springs,  but  many  reservoirs  of  rain-water.  The  corn- 
fields straggle  for  want  of  level  space,  yet  the  olive-groves 
are  finer  than  on  either  the  plain  below  or  the  range  above. 
Inhabited  villages  are  frequent ;  the  ruins  of  abandoned 
ones  more  so.  But  the  prevailing  scenery  of  the  region  is 
of  short,  steep  hillsides  and  narrow  glens,  with  a  very  few 
great  trees,  and  thickly  covered  by  brushwood  and  oak- 
scrub — crags  and  scalps  of  limestone  breaking  through, 
and  a  rough  grey  torrent-bed  at  the  bottom  of  each  glen. 
In  the  more  open  passes  of  the  south,  the  straight  line  of 
a  Roman  road  dominates  the  brushwood,  or  you  will  see 
the  levelled  walls  of  an  early  Christian  convent,  and 
perhaps  the  solitary  gable  of  a  Crusaders'  church.  In  the 
rocks  there  are  older  monuments — large  wine  and  oil 
presses  cut  on  level  platforms  above  ridges  that  may 
formerly  have  been  vineyards  ;  and  once  or  twice  on  a 
braeside  a  huge  boulder  has  well-worn  steps  up  it,  and  on 
its  top  little  cuplike  hollows,  evidently  an  ancient  altar. 
Caves,  of  course,  abound — near  the  villages,  gaping  black 
dens  for  men  and  cattle,  but  up  the  unfrequented  glens 
they  are  hidden  by  hanging  bush,  behind  which  you 
disturb  only  the  wild  pigeon.  Bees  murmur  everywhere, 
larks  are  singing ;  and  although  in  the  maze  of  hills  you 
may  wander  for  hours  without  meeting  a  man,  or  seeing 
a  house,  you  are  seldom  out  of  sound  of  the  human  voice, 
shepherds  and  ploughmen  calling  to  their  cattle  and   to 


The  Shephelah  209 


each  other  across  the  glens.  Higher  up  you  rise  to  moor- 
land, with  rich  grass  if  there  is  a  spring,  but  otherwise, 
heath,  thorns,  and  rough  herbs  that  scent  the  wind.  Bees 
abound  here,  too,  and  dragon-flies,  kites  and  crows  ; 
sometimes  an  eagle  floats  over  from  the  cliffs  of  Judaea. 
The  sun  beats  strong,  but  you  see  and  feel  the  sea  ;  the 
high  mountains  are  behind,  at  night  they  breathe  upon 
these  lower  ridges  gentle  breezes,  and  the  dews  are  very 
heavy. 

Altogether  it  is  a  rough,  happy  land,  with  its  glens  and 
moors,  its  mingled  brushwood  and  barley-fields  ;  frequently 
under  cultivation,  but  for  the  most  part  broken  and  thirsty, 
with  few  wells  and  many  hiding-places  ;  just  the  home  for 
strong  border-men  like  Samson,  and  just  the  theatre  for 
that  guerilla  warfare,  varied  occasionally  by  pitched  battles, 
which  Israel  and  Philistia,  the  Maccabees  and  the  Syrians, 
Saladin  and  Richard  waged  with  each  other. 

The  chief  encounters  of  these  foes  naturally  took  place 
in  the  wide  valleys,  which  cut  right  through  the  Shephelah 
maze.      The    strategic    importance    of    these 

*=  ^  The  Valleys 

valleys  can  hardly  be  overrated,  for   they  do   of  the 

r^  1-      1        r    Shephelah. 

not  belong  to  the  Shephelah  alone.  Each  of 
them  is  continued  by  a  defile  into  the  very  heart  of  Judaea, 
not  far  from  an  important  city,  and  each  of  them  has  at 
its  other  end,  on  the  coast,  one  of  the  five  cities  of  the 
Philistines.  To  realise  these  valleys  is  to  understand  the 
wars  that  have  been  fought  on  the  western  watershed  of 
Palestine  from  Joshua's  time  to  Saladin's. 

I.  Take  the  most  northerly  of  these  valleys.  The 
narrow  plain,  across  which  the  present  road  to  Jerusalem 
runs,  brings  you  up  from  Lydda,  to  opposite  the  high 
Valley  of  x^jalon.     The  Valley  of  Ajalon,  which  is  really 

O 


2IO   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

part  of  the  Shephelah/  is  a  broad  fertile  plain  gently 
sloping  up  to  the  foot  of  the  Central  Range,  the  steep 
wall  of  which  seems  to  forbid  further  passage^ 
But  three  gorges  break  through,  and,  with 
sloping  ridges  between  them  run  up  past  the  two  Beth- 
horons  on  to  the  plateau  at  Gibeon,  a  few  flat  miles  north 
of  Jerusalem.^  This  has  always  been  the  easiest  passage 
In  the  Old  ^0"!  the  coast  to  the  capital  of  Judsa — the 
Testament.  j-Qost  natural  channel  for  the  overflow  of  Israel 
westwards.  In  the  first  settlement  of  the  land,  it  was  down 
Ajalon  that  Dan  pushed  and  touched  for  a  time  the  sea  ;  ^ 
after  the  exile,  it  was  down  Ajalon  that  the  returned  Jews 
cautiously  felt  their  way,  and  fixed  their  westmost  colonies 
at  its  mouth  on  the  edge  of  the  plain.^  Throughout 
history  we  see  hosts  swarming  up  this  avenue,  or  swept 
down  it  in  flight.  At  the  high  head  of  it  invading  Israel 
first  emerged  from  the  Jordan  Valley,  and  looked  over  the 
Shephelah  towards  the  Great  Sea.  Joshua  drove  the 
Canaanites  down  to  Makkedah  in  the  Shephelah  on  that 
day  when  such  long  work  had  to  be  done  that  he  bade  the 

^  Thus  the  towns  of  Ajalon  and  Gimzo  were  in  the  Shephelah  (2  Chron, 
xxviii.  18),  and  we  have  seen,  according  to  the  Talmud,  the  Shephelah 
extended  from  Emmaus  to  Lydda. 

-  The  three  roads  from  the  Vale  of  Ajalon  to  Jerusalem  are  these  :  (i)  On 
one  of  the  sloping  ridges  between  the  gorges,  you  rise  rapidly  from  the  W. 
Selman  81S  feet,  byBeit-Likia  1600,  Beit-Anon  2070,  el  Kubeibeh  2570,  and 
so  along  the  ridge  by  Biddu  and  Beit-Ikra  2525,  across  W.  Beit-Hanina  to 
Kh.  el  Bedr  2519,  and  thence  to  Jerusalem.  (2)  Or  you  may  follow  the  W.  es 
Selman  itself  from  818  feet  to  11 57,  1610,  1840,  till  it  brings  you  out  at  its  head 
on  the  plateau  of  El-Jib  2400  feet,  about  five  miles  north  of  Jerusalem.  (3)  Or 
you  may  take  the  more  famous  Beth-horon  road,  which  rises  from  Beit-Sira 
840  feet  on  a  spur  to  the  lower  Beth-horon  1240  feet,  and  thence  traverses  a 
ridge  with  the  gorges  of  W.  Selman  to  the  south,  and  W.  es  Sunt  and  W.  el 
Imeish  to  the  north,  to  the  upper  Beth-horon  (1730),  and  still  following  the 
ridge,  comes  out  on  the  plateau  of  El-Jib  a  little  to  the  north  of  No.  2. 

2  Chapter  iii. 

■^  Lydda,  Ono,  Hadid  on  the  Ge-Haharashim,  pp.  160  ff. 


The  Shephelak  2 1 1 


sun  stand  still  for  its  accomplishment ;  ^  down  Ajalon  the 
early  men  of  Ephraim  and  Benjamin  raided  the  Philis- 
tines ;  -  up  Ajalon  the  Philistines  swarmed  to  the  very 
heart  of  Israel's  territory  at  Michmash,  disarmed  the 
Israelites,  and  forced  them  to  come  down  the  Vale  to  get 
their  tools  sharpened,  so  that  the  mouth  of  the  Vale  was 
called  the  Valley  of  the  Smiths  even  till  after  the  exile  ;  ^ 
down  Ajalon  Saul  and  Jonathan  beat  the  Philistines  from 
Michmash,**  and  by  the  same  way,  soon  after  his  accession, 
King  David  suiote  the  Philistines — who  had  come  up  about 
Jerusalem  either  by  this  route  or  the  gorges  leading  from 
the  Vale  of  Sorek — from  Gibeon  until  thou  come  to  GeserJ' 
that  looks  right  up  Ajalon.  Ages  later  this  rout  found  a 
singular  counterpart.  In .  66  A.D.  a  Roman  army  under 
Cestius  Gallus  came  up  from  Antipatris — on  the  'Aujeh — 
by  way  of  Ajalon.  When  they  entered  the  gorges  of  the 
Central  Range,  they  suffered  from  the  sudden  attacks  of 
the  Jews  ;  and,  although  they  actually  set  Jerusalem  on  fire 
and  occupied  part  of  it,  they  suddenly  retreated  by  the 
way  they  had  come.  The  Jews  pursued,  and,  as  far  as 
Antipatris  itself,  smote  them  in  thousands,  as  David  had 
smitten  the  Philistines.^  It  may  have  been  be-  yj^-^^^  jf^^ 
cause  of  this  that  Titus,  when  he  came  up  to  Romans. 
punish  the  Jews  two  years  later,  avoided  Ajalon  and  the 
gorges  at  its  head,  and  took  the  higher  and  less  covered 
road  by  Gophna  to  Gibeah.'^ 

The  Vale  of  Ajalon  was  also  overrun  by  the  Egyptian 

^  Joshua  X.  10.     Makkedah  is  identified  by  Warren  as  el-Mughar  to  tlie 
south  of  Ekron,  but  this  is  very  doubtful. 
-  I  Chron.  vii.  21  ;  viii.  13. 

^  I  Sam.  xiii.  19.     See  p.  160  for  the  origin  of  the  name,  Ge-Haharashim. 
•*  I  Sam.  xiii.,  xiv.  ;  ap.  xiv.  31.  '  2  Sam.  v.  25  ;   i  Chron.  xiv.  16. 

*  Josephus,  ii.   Wars,  xix.  ^  v.  Wars,  ii. 


2  12    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

invasions  of  Palestine.  Egypt  long  held  Gezer  at  the 
mouth  of  it,  and  Shishak's  campaign  included  the  capture 
of  Beth-horon,  Ajalon,  Makkedah,  and  Jehudah,  near 
Joppa.^ 

But  it  was  in  the  time  of  the  Maccabean  wars  and  in  the 
time  of  the  Crusades  that  this  part  of  the  Shephelah  was 
most  famously  contested. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  Plain  of  Ajalon,  with  its 
mouth  turned  slightly  northwards,  lay  open  to  the  roads 
down  the  Maritime  Plain  from  Carmel.  It  was,  therefore, 
the  natural  entrance  into  Judaea  for  the  Syrian  armies  who 
came  south  by  the  coast ;  and  Modein,  the  home  of  the 
With  the  Maccabees,  and  the  origin  of  the  revolt  against 
Maccabees,  gyna,  Hes  on  the  edge  of  Ajalon  by  the  ver}' 
path  the  invaders  took.^  Just  as  at  Lydda,  in  this  same 
district,  the  revolt  afterwards  broke  out  against  the 
Romans  in  66  A.D.,  so  now  in  i66  B.C.  it  broke  out  against 
the  Hellenising  Syrians.^  The  first  camps,  both  Jewish 
and  Syrian,  were  pitched  about  Emmaus,  not  far  off  the 
present  high  road  to  Jerusalem.*     The  battles  rolled — for 

^  On  Gezer,  l  Kings  ix.  15-17.  On  'Shishak's  Campaign:'  Maspero  in 
Transactions  of  Victorian  Institute ;  W.  Max  Miiller,  Asien  u.  Etir.  nach. 
altiigypt.  Denkin.,  166  f.  The  town  of  Ajalon  is  mentioned,  in  the  Tell-el- 
Amarna  Tablets,  as  one  of  the  first  to  be  taken  from  the  Egyptian  vassals. 

2  I  Mace.  ii.  i,  15,  23,  70;  xiii.  25,  30;  xvi.  4;  2  Mace.  xiii.  4,  MuiSdv 
or  MwSeetV.  Variants,  McoSeei/i,  i  Mace.  ii.  23  ;  ix.  19;  xiii.  25,  30;  MwSaetV, 
xvi.  4  ;  Mco5tei/i,  2  Mace.  xiii.  14.  In  Josephus,  MwSeet/^  or  MwSen,  xii.  Antf. 
vi.  I,  xi.  2;  xiii.  Antt.  vi.  5;  MwSeeii',  i.  ]Va7-s  i.  3.  Ononiast.  Euseb. 
M7]5eeifi,  Jerome,  Modeim.  Evidently  a  plural  word,  now  in  the  Hebrew 
form,  now  in  the  Aramseic.  So  Talmud,  Modi'im  D''y'''TlD  :  but  also  Modi'ith 
JT'yniD  (Neubauer,  Geog:  Ta/m.,  §  99).  Either  of  these  would  give  the  pre- 
sent Medieh  or  Midieh,  a  village  seven  miles  ESE.  of  Lydda  (Neubauer),  which 
suits  Eusebius'  statement  that  Medieh  was  near  Lydda,  and  i  Mace.  xiii.  29, 
that  the  monument  of  the  Maccabees  could  be  seen  from  the  sea.  Forner  had 
also  proposed  Medieh,  Ze  Monde,  1866  (Guerin).  Robinson  takes  Latrun, 
and  \r\  Jucice,  i.  311,  Guerin  inclines  to  this. 

^  I  Mace.  ii.  ^  Ibid.  iii. 


The  Shephelah  213 


the  battles  in  the  Shephelah  were  always  rolling  battles 
— between  Beth-horon  and  Gczer,  and  twice  the  pursuit 
of  the  S}'rians  extended  across  the  last  ridges  of  the 
Shephelah  to  Jamnia  and  Ashdod.^  Jonathan  swept 
right  down  to  Joppa  and  won  it.-  But  the  tide  sometimes 
turned,  and  the  Syrians  mastering  the  Shephelah  fortresses, 
swept  up  Ajalon  to  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  ;  ^  though  they 
preferred  on  occasions  to  turn  the  flank  of  the  Jews  by 
coming  through  Samaria,^  or  gaining  the  Judaean  table- 
land at  Bethsura  by  one  of  the  southern  defiles.*^ 

Now,  up  and  down  this  great  channel  thirteen  centuries 
later  the  fortune  of  war  ebbed  and  flowed  in  an  almost 
precisely  similar  fashion.  Like  the  Syrians —  j,^  ^^^ 
and,  indeed,  from  the  same  centre  of  Antioch  Crusades. 
— the  Crusaders  took  their  way  to  Jerusalem  by  Tyre, 
Acre,  and  Joppa,  and  there  turned  up  through  the  She- 
phelah and  the  Vale  of  Ajalon.  The  First  Crusaders 
found  no  opposition  ;  two  days  sufficed  for  their  march 
from  Ramleh,  by  Beth-horon,  to  the  Holy  City.  Through 
the  Third  Crusade,  however,  Saladin  firmly  held  the 
Central  Range,  and  though  parties  of  Christians  swept  up 
within  sight  of  Jerusalem,  their  camps  never  advanced 
beyond  Ajalon.  But  all  the  Shephelah  rang  with  the 
exploits  of  Richard.  Fighting  his  way,  as  we  have  seen, 
from  Carmel  along  the  foot  of  the  low  hills,  with  an 
enemy  perpetually  assailing  his  flank,  Richard  established 
himself  at  Joppa,  opposite  the  mouth  of  Ajalon.     Thence 

^  I  Mace,  iii.,  iv.,  vii.,  ix.  "  Ibid.  x.  75,  76. 

3  In  Judas'  lifetime,  but  when  he  was  absent  the  Jews  were  pursued  '  to 
the  borders  of  Judsea,'  Ibid.  v.  57-61.  And  again  in  the  campaign  in  which 
Judas  was  slain,  Ibid.  ix.  ;  and  the  battle  between  Jonathan  and  Bacchides, 
when  the  latter  took  Emmaus  and  Gezer,  Ibid.  ix.  50,  52. 

■*  Probably  the  line  of  Bacchides'  advance,  Ibid.  ix.  i  4. 

^  Ibid.  iv.  29,  vi.  31,  49,  50,  ix.  52,  etc. 


2  14   1^^^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

he  pushed  gradually  inland,  planting  forts  or  castles — on 
the  plain,  Plans  and  Maen  ;  on  the  edge  of  the  Shephelah, 
Mirabel  and  Montgisard  ;  and  up  the  Vale  of 
and  the         Ajalon,  the  Chateau  d'Arnauld,  perhaps  the  pre- 
sent El-Burj  ;  Turon  (now  Latrun)  on  one  side, 
and  Emmaus  (now  Amwas)  on  the  other  side  of  the  present 
road  to  Jerusalem — till  he  reached  Betenoble,  far  up  the 
vale,  and  near  the  foot  of  the  Central  Range.^    But  Richard 
did  not  confine  his  tactics  to  the  Vale  of  Ajalon.     Like 
the  Syrians,  when  he  found  this  blocked,  he  turned  south- 
wards, and  made  a  diversion  upon  the  Judsean  table-land, 
up  one  of  the  parallel  valleys  of  the  Shephelah,  and  then, 
when  that  failed,  returned   suddenly  to  Betenoble.^     All 

^  The  sites  of  most  of  these  Crusading  strongholds  are  uncertain.  Both 
Plans  and  Maen  lay  east  of  Joppa,  but  not  east  of  Ramleli  (Vinsauf,  Itiiier. 
Ricard.  iv.  29).  So  Maen  cannot  be  El-Burj  or  Deir  Ma'in  (Guerin,y?<r/. 
i.  337),  and  of  Conder's  two  suggestions  {Syr.  Stone  Lore,  398)  the  second  is 
the  correct  one.  Plans  has  not  been  found.— The  only  difficulty  in  accepting 
Conder's  identification  of  Mirabel  with  the  present  El-Mirr,  near  Ras-el-Ain, 
north-east  of  Joppa,  is  that  the  latter  is  on  the  plain,  whereas  Vinsauf  says  the 
Turks  whom  Richard  scattered  fled  to  Mirabel,  that  is,  if  El-Mirr  be  Mirabel, 
north-west  2.x\A  towards  the  plains  which  the  Christians  held. — On  Montgisard 
(Rey),  or  Mont  Gisart  (CI.  Ganneau),  see  pp.  215-218. — Chateau  d'Arnauld  is 
described  by  William  of  Tyre  as  '  in  descensu  montium,  in  primis  auspiciis  cam- 
pestrium,  via  qui  itur  Liddam.'  The  site  is  uncertain — El-Burg  (De  Saulcy), 
Khariibeh  (Guerin).  —  Latrun  derived  by  medijevals  from  Latro,  and  supposed 
to  be  the  den  Boni  Latronis  of  the  Good  Thief,  Dimna  (Quaresm.  Elite.  Terr. 
Sand.  ii.  12)  is  really  El-Atrun.  This  maybe  from  either  (i)  old  French 
touron  or  tiwon,  an  isolated  hill,  for  in  1244  Latrun  was  called  Turo  Militum 
(Rey,  Colon.  Franqiics,  300,  413),  and  Turon  might  easily  become,  according 
to  a  well-known  law  in  the  Arab  adoption  of  foreign  words,  Atron,  like  itfa 
from  tafa  ;  or  (2)  Arabic  Natrun,  post  of  observation,  with  article  En-Natrun, 
that  might  as  easily  become  El-Latrun,  or  the  present  Arabic  El-Atrun.  Cf. 
Noldeke,  Z.D.P.  V.  vii.  141. — Betenoble  :  '  Near  the  foot  of  the  mountains,' 
Vinsauf,  iv.  34.  Betenoble  is  philologically  liker  Beit  Nabala,  on  the  edge 
of  the  Maritime  Plain,  four  miles  north-east  of  Lydda,  than  Beit  Nuba,  which 
is  at  the  other  end  of  the  Vale  of  Ajalon,  near  Yalo.  But  other  references 
in  Vinsauf,  though  not  conclusive  (v.  49,  vi.  9),  imply  that  it  was  well  inland 
from  Ramleh.  ^  Vinsauf,  v.  46-48. 


The  Shephelah  215 


this  cost  him  from  August  1191  to  June  1192.  He  was 
then  within  twelve  miles  of  Jerusalem  as  the  crow  flies, 
and  on  a  raid  he  actually  saw  the  secluded  city,  but  he 
retired.  His  funds  were  exhausted,  and  his  followers 
quarrelsome.  He  feared,  too,  the  summer  drought  of 
Jerusalem,  which  had  compelled  Cestius  Gallus  to  with- 
draw in  the  moment  of  victory.  But,  above  all,  Richard's 
retreat  from  the  foot  of  the  Central  Range  illustrates  what 
I  have  already  emphasised,  that  to  have  taken  the  She- 
phelah was  really  to  be  no  nearer  Judaea.  The  baffled 
Crusaders  fell  back  through  their  castles  in  the  Shephelah 
to  the  coast.  Saladin  moved  after  them,  occupying  Mont 
Gisart,  and  taking  Joppa ;  and  though  Richard  relieved 
the  latter,  and  the  coast  remained  with  the  Crusaders  for 
the  next  seventy  years,  the  Shephelah,  with  its  European 
castles  and  cloisters,  passed  wholly  from  Christian  pos- 
session. 

We  have  won  a  much  more  vivid  imagination  of  the 
far-off  campaigns  of  Joshua  and  David  by  following  the 
marches  of  Judas  Maccabeus,  the  rout  of  the  Roman 
legions,  and  the  advance  and  retreat  of  Richard  Lionheart 
— the  last  especially  described  with  so  much  detail.  The 
natural  lines,  which  all  those  armies  had  to  follow,  remained 
throughout  the  centuries  the  same :  the  same  were  the 
difficulties  of  climate,  forage  and  locomotion  ;  so  that  the 
best  commentaries  on  many  chapters  of  the  Old  Testament 
are  the  Books  of  the  Maccabees,  the  Annals  of  Josephus, 
and  the  Chronicles  of  the  Crusades.  History  never  repeats 
itself  without  explaining  its  past. 

One  point  in  the  Northern  Shephelah,  round  which  these 
tides  of  war  have  swept,  deserves  special  notice — Gezer,  or 
Gazar,    It  is  one  of  the  few  remarkable  bastions  which  the 


2i6    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Shephelah  flings  out  to  the  west — on  a  ridge    running 
towards  Ramleh,  the  most  prominent  object  in  view  of  the 
Gezer  traveller  from  Jaffa  towards  Jerusalem.     It  is 

Mont  Gisart.  j^jgj^  ^^^  isolated,  but  fertile  and  well  watered 
— a  very  strong  post  and  striking  landmark.  Its  name 
occurs  in  the  Egyptian  correspondence  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  where  it  is  described  as  being  taken  from  the 
Egyptian  vassals  by  the  tribes  whose  invasion  so  agitates 
that  correspondence.^  A  city  of  the  Canaanites,  under  a 
king  of  its  own — Horam — Gezer  is  not  given  as  one  of 
Joshua's  conquests,  though  the  king  is  ;  ^  but  the  Israelites 
di'ave  not  out  the  Canaanites  who  dwelt  at  Gezer^  and  in  the 
hands  of  these  it  remained  till  its  conquest  by  Egypt, 
when  Pharaoh  gave  it,  with  his  daughter,  to  Solomon, 
and  Solomon  rebuilt  it.^  Judas  Maccabeus  was  strategist 
enough  to  gird  himself  early  to  the  capture  of  Gezer,  and 
Simon  fortified  it  to  cover  the  way  to  the  harbour  of 
Joppa,  and  caused  John,  his  son,  the  captain  of  the  host, 
to  dwell  there.^  It  was  virtually,  therefore,  the  key  of 
Judaea  at  a  time  when  Judaea's  foes  came  down  the  coast 
from  the  north ;  and,  with  Joppa,  it  formed  part  of  the 
Syrian  demands  upon  the  Jews.*'  But  this  is  by  no  means 
the  last  of  it.  M.  Clermont  Ganneau,  who  a  number  of 
years  ago  discovered  the  site,'^  has  lately  identified  Gezer 


1  See  2  R.P.  74,  78;  Conder's  Tell-el-Amania  Tablets,  122,  134-138,  147. 
Conder,  as  has  been  said  already,  holds  that  these  invaders  are  the  Hebrews, 
but  this  is  not  certain  from  the  tablets  themselves,  nor  does  it  agree  with  the 
now  generally-received  date  of  the  Exodus. 

-  Josh.  X.  33.  s  Josh.  xvi.  3,  10;  Judges  i.  19. 

^  I  Kings  ix.  15-17.     See  W.  Max  Miiller,  op.  cit.  160,  390. 

^  I  Mace.  xiii.  43  (where  Gaza  should  read  Gazara,  cf.  Josephus  xiii.  Antt. 
vi.  7  ;  i.  Wars,  ii.  2)  and  53.  *  I  Mace.  xv.  28. 

"^  By  finding  upon  it  two  stones,  evidently  dated  from  the  time  of  the 
Maccabees,  P.E.F.Q.,  1875. 


The  Shephelah  217 


with  the  Mont  Gisart  of  the  Crusades.^  Mont  Gisart  was 
a  castle  and  fief  in  the  county  of  Joppa,  with  an  abbey  of 
St.  Katharine  of  Mont  Gisart,  '  whose  prior  was  one  of  the 
five  suffragans  of  the  Bishop  of  Lydda.'  It  was  the  scene, 
on  24th  November  1174,  seventeen  years  before  the  Third 
Crusade,  of  a  victory  won  by  a  small  army  from  Jerusalem 
under  the  boy-king,  the  leper  Baldwin  IV.,  against  a  very 
much  larger  army  under  Saladin  himself,  and,  in  1192, 
Saladin  encamped  upon  it  during  his  negotiations  for  a 
truce  with  Richard.^ 

Shade  of  King  Horam,  what  hosts  of  men  have  fallen 
round  that  citadel  of  yours  !  On  what  camps  and  columns 
has  it  looked  down  through  the  centuries,  since  first  you 
saw  the  strange  Hebrews  burst  with  the  sunrise  across  the 
hills,  and  chase  your  countrymen  down  Ajalon — that  day 
when  the  victors  felt  the  very  sun  conspiring  with  them  to 
achieve  the  unexampled  length  of  battle.  Within  sight  of 
every  Egyptian  and  every  Assyrian  invasion  of  the  land, 
Gezer  has  also  seen  Alexander  pass  by,  and  the  legions 
of  Rome  in  unusual  flight,  and  the  armies  of  the  Cross 
struggle,  waver  and  give  way,  and  Napoleon  come  and 
go.  If  all  could  rise  who  have  fallen  around  its  base — 
Ethiopians,  Hebrews,  Assyrians,  Arabs,  Turcomans,  Greeks, 
Romans,  Celts,  Saxons,  Mongols — what  a  rehearsal  of  the 
Judgment  Day  it  would  be !  Few  of  the  travellers  who 
now  rush  across  the  plain  realise  that  the  first  conspicuous 
hill  they  pass  in  Palestine  is  also  one  of  the  most  thickly 
haunted — even  in  that  narrow  land  into  which  history  has 
so  crowded  itself  But  upon  the  ridge  of  Gezer  no  sign  of 
all  this  now  remains,  except  in  the  name  Tell  Jezer,  and 
in  a  sweet  hollow  to  the  north,  beside  a  fountain,  where  lie 

^  Reateil d' ArchioK  Orient.,  Paris,  1888,  pp.  351-92.  *  Ibid.  p.  359. 


2i8   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  scattered  Christian  stones  of  Deir  Warda,  the  Convent 
of  the  Rose. 

Up  none  of  the  other  valleys  of  the  Shephelah  has 
history  surged  as  up  and  down  Ajalon  and  past  Gezer,  for 
none  are  so  open  to  the  north,  nor  present  so  easy  a 
passage  to  Jerusalem. 

2.  The  next  Shephelah  valley,  however,  the  Wady  es 
Surar,  or  Vale  of  Sorek,  has  an  importance  of  its  own,  and. 
The  Vale  remarkably  enough,  is  to  be  the  future  road 
of  Sorek.  ^q  Jerusalem.  The  new  railway  from  Jaffa, 
instead  of  being  carried  up  Ajalon,  turns  south  at  Ramleh 
by  the  pass  through  the  low  sandhills  to  Ekron,  and  thence 
runs  up  the  Wady  es  Surar  and  its  continuing  defile 
through  the  Judaean  range  on  to  that  plain  south-east  of  \j^ 
Jerusalem,  which  probably  represents  the  ancient  Vale  of 
Rephaim.  It  is  the  way  the  Philistines  used  to  come 
up  in  the  days  of  the  Judges  and  of  David  ;  there  is  no 
shorter  road  into  Judaea  from  Ekron,  Jamnia,  and  perhaps 
Ashdod.^  Askalon  would  be  better  reached — as  it  was 
by  the  Crusaders  when  they  held  Jerusalem — by  way  of 
the  Wady  es  Sunt  and  Tell-es-Safiyeh. 

Just  before  the  Wady  es  Surar  approaches  the  Judaean 
range,  its  width  is  increased  by  the  entrance  of  the  Wady 
Ghurab  from  the  north-west,  and  by  the  Wady  en  Najil 
from  the  south.  A  great  basin  is  thus  formed  with  the  low 
hill  of  Artuf,  and  its  village  in  the  centre.  Sura',  the  ancient 
Zorah,  and  Eshua*,^  perhaps  Eshtaol,  lie  on  the  slopes  to 

1  By  the  Wady  es  Surar  Jerusalem  is  some  twenty-eight  miles  from  Ekron, 
thirty-two  from  Jamnia,  thirty-eight  from  Ashdod,  forty-five  from  Askalon. 

2  Sura'a  Ic -«?  is  without  doubt  the  Hebrew  iiyiV.  It  is  i  loo  feet  above 
the  sea,  say  8co  above  the  valley.  Eshua'  c  «^1  is  far  in  sound  from  Eshta'ol 
?1NriC*K,  but  the  shrinkage  in  the  name  is  possible,  and  the  village  lies  near 


The  Sliephelah  2  1 9 


the  north  ;  Ain  Shems,  in  all  probability  Beth-shemesh,  lies 
on  the  southern  slope  opposite  Zorah.  When  you  see  this 
basin,  you  at  once  perceive  its  importance.  Fertile  and 
well-watered — a  broad  brook  runs  through  it,  with  tribu- 
tary streamlets — it  lies  immediately  under  the  Judaean 
range,  and  at  the  head  of  a  valley  passing  down  toPhilistia, 
while  at  right  angles  to  this  it  is  crossed  by  the  great  line 
of  trench,  which  separates  the  Shephelah  from  Judaea. 
Roads  diverge  from  it  in  all  directions.  Two  ascend  the 
Judaean  plateau  by  narrow  defiles  from  the  Wady  en  Najil, 
another  and  greater  defile,  still  under  the  name  Wady  es 
Surar,  runs  up  east  to  the  plateau  next  Jerusalem,  and 
others  north-east  into  the  rough  hills  known  to  the  Old 
Testament  as  Mount  Jearim,  while  the  road  from  Beit- 
Jibrin  comes  down  the  Wady  en  Najil,  and  continues  by  a 
broad  and  easy  pass  to  Amwas  and  the  Vale  of  Ajalon. 
As  a  centre,  then,  between  the  southern  and  northern 
valleys  of  the  Shephelah,  and  between  Judaea  and  Philistia, 
this  basin  was  sure  to  become  important.  Immediately 
under  the  central  range  it  was  generally  held  by  Israel, 
who  could  swiftly  pour  down  upon  it  by  five  or  six  different 
defiles.^      It  was  also   open    to   Philistia,  and  had   easy 

Sura'a.  Gucrin  says  he  heard  at  Beit  Alab  '  an  old  tradition  '  that  Eshua'  was 
originally  Eshu'al  or  Eshthu'al.  This  is  interesting,  and  deserves  confirma- 
tion,— if  possible. 

^  Of  the  two  roads  to  the  south  of  the  main  defile  the  more  southerly  leaves 
Ain  Shems,  crosses  the  Wady  en  Najil,  enters  a  defile  to  the  south  of  Deir 
Aban,  and  reaches  the  plateau  at  Beit  Atab,  2052  ft  :  thence  over  the  stony 
moorland  to  El-Khudr,  on  the  Jerusalem-Hebron  road  :  a  bare  road,  with  no 
obstacles  after  you  are  out  of  the  defile,  it  may  be  shortened  by  cutting  across 
to  Bittir,  The  other  road  is  almost  parallel  to  this  one  ;  it  rises  to  the 
plateau  at  Deir  el  Hawa,  crosses  to  Er  Ras,  and  so  by  Milhah  to  Jerusalem. 
The  road  up  the  main  defile  follows  it  till  Khurbet  El  Loz  is  reached,  then 
leaves  it  and  crosses  to  the  Jerusalem-Jafifa  road.  Another  road  crosses  from 
Zorah  to  the  foot  of  Mount  Jearim,  and  traverses  this  to  Soba,  and  another 
follows  the  Wady  el  Ghurab  to,  like  the  last,  the  Jerusalem  high  road. 


2  20   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

passage  to  the  Vale  of  Ajalon,  whose  towns  are  often 
classed  with  its  own.^ 

On  the  northern  bank  of  this  basin  the  homeless  tribe 
of  Dan    found    a   temporary   settlement.     The   territory, 

The  Camp  which  the  Book  of  Joshua  assigns  to  Dan,^  lies 
of  Dan.  down  the  two  parallel  valleys  that  lead  through 
the  Shephelah  to  the  sea,  Ajalon  and  Sorek,  and  the  Song 
of  Deborah  seems  to  imply  that  they  reached  the  coast, — 
why  did  Dan  abide  in  ships  ?  ^  But  either  Deborah  speaks 
in  scorn  of  futile  ambitions  westward,  which  were  stirred 
in  Dan  by  the  sight  of  the  sea  from  the  Shephelah,  and  Dan 
never  reached  the  sea  at  all  ;  or  else  the  tribe  had  been 
driven  back  from  the  coast,  for  now  they  lay  poised  on  the 
broad  pass  between  their  designated  valleys,  retaining  only 
two  of  their  proper  towns,  Zorah  and  Eshtaol.  It  was  a 
position  close  under  the  eaves  of  Israel's  mountain  home, 
yet  open  to  attacks  from  the  plain.  They  found  it  so  in- 
tolerable that  they  moved  north,  even  to  the  sources  of  the 
Jordan  ;  but  not  without  stamping  their  name  on  the  place 
they  left,  in  a  form  which  showed  how  temporary  their  hold 
of  it  had  been.  It  was  called  the  Camp  of  Dan.  Here,  in 
Zorah,  either  before  or  after  the  migration,  their  great 
tribal  hero,  Samson,  was  born.* 

1  Zorah  and  Ajalon  are  also  coupled  in  one  of  the  Tell-el-Amarna  Letters, 
137,  in  the  Berlin  collection  ;  Conder,  Tell-el-Amai-na  Tablets,  156.  Josh. 
xix.  40-48  :  the  towns  assigned  to  Dan.  2  Chron.  xi.  10,  Zorah  and  Ajalon, 
fortified  by  Rehoboam.  ^  Josh.  xix.  40-48. 

2  Judges  V.  17.     But  see  Budde's  reading  of  this,  Richt.  Sam.,  p.  16,  n.  2. 
*  In  Judges  the  camp  of  Dan  is  twice  mentioned,  in  the  life  of  Samson, 

which  forms  part  of  the  body  of  the  Book,  where  it  is  placed  between  Zorah 
and  Eshtaol,  xiii.  25  ;  and  in  the  account  of  the  Danite  migration,  which 
forms  one  of  some  appendages  to  the  Book,  where  it  is  said  to  have  been  the 
muster-place  of  the  soldiers  of  Dan  when  they  came  tip  from  Zorah  and 
Eshtaol,  and  to  have  lain  in  Kiriath  fearim  in  Judah,  xviii.  12,  13  ;  and  a 
clause  adds,  lo.   it  is  behind,  i.e.  west  of,  Kiriath  Jearitn.     Now  the  same 


The  Shephelak  221 


It  is  as  fair  a  nursery  for  boyhood  as  you  will  find  in  all 
the  land — a  hillside  facing  south  against  the  sunshine,  with 
corn,  grass,  and  olives,  scattered  boulders  and  winter 
brooks,  the  broad  valley  below  with  the  pebbly  stream  and 
screens  of  oleanders,  the  south-west  wind  from  the  sea 
blowing  over  all.  There  the  child  Sarnsongrew  up  ;  and  the 
Lord  blessed  him,  andtJie  Spirit  of  the  Lord  began  to  move  him 
in  the  camp  of  Dan  between  Zorah  and  Eshtaol. 

Samson. 

Across  the  Valley  of  Sorek,  in  full  view,  is 
Beth-shemesh,  now  'Ain  Shems,  House  and  Well  of  the 
the  Sun,  with  which  name  it  is  so  natural  to  connect  his 
own — Shimshon,  '  Sun-like.'  Over  the  low  hills  beyond  is 
Timnah,  where  he  found  his  first  love  and  killed  the  young 
lion.i  Beyond  is  the  Philistine  Plain,  with  its  miles  upon 
miles  of  corn,  which,  if  as  closely  sown  then  as  now,  would 
require  scarce  three,  let  alone  three  hundred  foxes,  with 
torches  on  their  tails,  to  set  it  all  afire.  The  Philistine 
cities  are  but  a  day's  march  away,  by  easy  roads.  And  so 
from  these  country  braes  to  yonder  plains  and  the  highway 

place  could  not  have  lain  between  Zorah  and  Eshtaol,  and  away  from  both  in 
Kiriath  Jearim.  We  have  evidently,  therefore,  two  different  narratives,  and 
in  fact  they  are  distinguished  by  critics  on  other,  textual,  grounds.  (Budde, 
Rickt.  Sam.,  assigns  the  former  to  the  Jahvist,  the  latter  to  the  Elohist,  13S  ff. ) 
In  this  case  the  clause  on  xviii.  12,  il  is  west  of  Kiriatk  Jearim,  is  probably 
a  gloss  added  to  modify  what  precedes  it,  and  bring  it  into  harmony  with 
xiii.  25,  for  the  locality  between  Zorah  and  Eshtaol  may  be  described  as  lying 
west  of  Kiriath  Jearim,  and  that,  whether  the  latter  be  the  present  Kuriet 
Einab  or  Khurbet  'Erma.  Again,  since  xviii.  1 1-13  is  part  of  the  appendix  to 
the  Book  of  Judges,  and  therefore  is  not  in  chronological  sequence  from  the 
earlier  chapters,  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  Dan's  migration  came  before  or 
after  the  events  of  Samson's  life.  If  before,  then  some  Danite  families  had 
stayed  behind  in  Zorah  and  Eshtaol,  which  is  very  likely,  and  the  theory 
becomes  possible,  though  not  probable,  that  the  name  Camp  of  Dan,  being 
given,  as  described  in  xviii.  13,  to  a  particular  spot  in  Kiriath  Jearim,  had 
gradually  extended  to  the  whole  district,  which  the  temporary  settlement  of 
Dan  had  covered.  The  one  thing  certain  is,  that  we  have  two  documents. 
'  See  pp.  79  f. 


222    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

of  the  great  world — from  the  pure  home  and  the  mother 
who  talked  with  angels,  to  the  heathen  cities,  their  harlots 
and  their  prisons — we  see  at  one  sweep  of  the  eye  all  the 
course  in  which  this  uncurbed  strength,  at  first  tumbling 
and  sporting  with  laughter  like  one  of  its  native  brooks, 
like  them  also  ran  to  the  flats  and  the  mud,  and,  being 
darkened  and  befouled,  was  used  by  men  to  turn  their 
mills.i 

The  theory  that  the  story  of  Samson  is  a  mere  sun-myth, 
edited  for  the  sacred  record  by  an  orthodox  Jew,  has  never 
received  acceptance  from  the  leading  critics,  who  have  all 
been  convinced  that  though  containing  elements  of  popular 
legend,  its  hero  was  an  actual  personage.  Those  who 
study  the  story  of  Samson  along  with  its  geography  must 

^  The  other  scenes  of  Samson's  life  have  not  been  yet  satisfactorily  identified. 
For  the  rock  'Etam  and  its  cleft  Conder  proposes  (so  also  Henderson,  Pah, 
p.  109)  a  peculiar  cave  at  Beit  'Atab  (/'  and  ni  being  interchangeable)  on  the 
Judrean  plateau.  But  the  cave  at  Beit  'Atab  (I  have  visited  the  place)  is  too  large 
to  be  described  as  a  cleft,  and  if  'Etam  had  been  so  high  up  the  narrative  would 
not  have  said  (Judges  xv.  8)  that  Samson  loeut  down  to  it.  Coming  up  from 
Zorah  to  Beit  'Atab  on  a  summer  day,  one  feels  that  strongly.  Schick, Z.Z?.  P.  V. 
X.  143,  proposes  more  plausibly  (Guthe  thinks  correctly)  the  Arak  Isma'in 
a  cave  in  a  rock  on  the  north  of  Wady  Isma'in.     Lehi  he  finds,  in  Khurbet  es 

Siyyagh  (cLluJl   in  the   Name  Lists,  P.E.F.    Mem.),  ruins  at   mouth  of 

W.  en  Najtl.  Aquila  and  Symmachus,  and  Jos.  (v.  Antt.  ix.  S,  9)  translate 
Lehi  Zta7wr,  and  Schick  reports  E.  of  Siyyagh  an  'Ain  Nakura.  But  Siyyagh 
could  have  come  from  Siagon  only  through  Greeks  and  Christians,  and  is 
therefore  a  late  and  valueless  tradition.  Conder  suggests  for  Ramath-Lehi 
and  En-hakkore,  the  'Ay;m  Abu  Meharib,  'founts  of  the  place  of  battles,' 
sometimes  called  'Ayiin  Kara,  '  founts  of  a  crier,'  near  Kesla,  where  there  is 
a  chapel  dedicated  to  Sheikh  Nedhir,  *  the  Nazarite  chief,'  and  a  ruin  with 
the  name  Ism  Allah,  which  he  suggests  is  a  corruption  of  Esm'a  Allah, 
'God  heard.'  This  is  interesting,  but  also  inconclusive.  See  Hend.,  Pal. 
no,  who  suggests  the  serrated  appearance  of  W.  Ismain  as  originating  the 
name  Lehi  :  Hashen,  the  tooth,  occurs  up  it.  Guerin  heard  the  Weli  Sh. 
Gharib  called  by  the  name  Kabr  Shamshun,  but  this  may  be  a  very  recent 
legend.  He  puts  these  scenes  at  'Ain  el  Lehi,  north-west  of  Bethlehem 
{Jiid.  il  317  ff-,  396  ft.)- 


The  Shephelah  22 \ 


feel  that  the  story  has  at  least  a  basis  of  reality.  Unlike 
the  exploits  of  the  personifications  of  the  Solar  Fire  in 
Aryan  and  Semitic  mythologies,  those  of  Samson  are  con- 
fined to  a  very  limited  region.  The  attempts  to  interpret 
them  as  phases  or  influences  of  the  sun,  or  to  force  them 
into  a  cycle  like  the  labours  of  Hercules,  have  broken  down.^ 
To  me  it  seems  just  as  easy  and  just  as  futile  to  read  the 
story  of  this  turbulent  strength  as  the  myth  of  a  mountain- 
stream,  at  first  exuberant  and  sporting  with  its  powers,  but 
when  it  has  left  its  native  hills,  mastered  and  darkened  by 
men,  and  yet  afterwards  bursting  its  confinement  and 
taking  its  revenge  upon  them.  For  it  is  rivers,  and  not 
sunbeams,  that  work  mills  and  overthrow  temples.  But 
the  idea  of  finding  any  nature-myth  in  such  a  story  is  far- 
fetched. As  Hitzig  emphasises,  it  is  not  a  nature-force 
but  a  character  with  whom  we  have  to  deal  here,  and,  above 
all,  the  religious  element  in  the  story,  so  far  from  being  a 
later  flavour  imparted  to  the  original  material,  is  the  very 
life  of  the  whole.- 

The  head  of  the  Vale  of  Sorek  has  usually  been  regarded 
as  the  scene  of  the  battle  in  which  the  Philistines  took  the 
ark.^  The  place,  as  we  have  seen,  was  convenient  both  to 
Israel  and  Philistia,  and  it  has  been  argued  that  in  after- 
wards bringing  back  the  ark  to  Beth-shemesh,^  the  Philis- 
tines were  seeking   to   make   their   atonement  exact  by 

^  Goldziher,  Hebrew  Mythology.  E.  Wietzke,  Der  Biblische  Simson  der 
^gyptische  Horus  Ra  :  Wittenberg,  1888.  The  etymologies  of  this  work 
are  an  instance  of  the  length  that  men  will  go  when  hunting  for  myths. 

-  This  point  is  well  put  by  Orelli,  Herzog's  Real-Encyd.  Cf.  Hitzig, 
Ewald,  Stade,  Kittel,  in  their  histories  of  Israel.  All  deny  the  myth,  admit 
legend,  and  allow  that  the  hero  was  historical.  Budde,  Richt.  Sam.  133, 
holds  to  Kuenen's  position  that  the  narrator  knew  nothing  of  a  myth,  but 
says  '  the  legendary  nature  of  the  narratives  is  selbst  versidndlich.' 

^  I  Samuel  iv.  •*  i  Samuel  vii. 


2  24    "^^^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

restoring  their  booty  at  the  spot  where  they  had  cap- 
tured it  ;  and  that  the  stone  on  which  they  rested  the  Ark 
may  have  been  the  Eben-ezer,  or  Stone  of  Help, 

EiDGii-H^zsr 

near  which  they  had  defeated  the  Israelites, 
and  the  Israelites  are  said  (in  another  document)^  afterwards 
to  have  defeated  them.  But  these  reasons  do  not  reach 
more  than  probability.  The  name  neither  of  Eben-ezer 
nor  of  Aphek  has  been  identified  in  the  neighbourhood,  and 
on  the  data  of  the  narratives  Eben-ezer  may  just  as  probably 
have  lain  farther  north — say  at  the  head  of  Ajalon.^ 

The  course  of  the  ark's  return,  however,  is  certain. 
It  was  up  the  broad  Vale  of  Sorek  that  the  untended 
Beth-shemesh  ^^"^  °^  Beth-shemesh  dragged  the  cart  behind 
and  the  Ark.  t^gni  with  the  ark  upon  it,  lozving  as  they 
went,  and  turned  not  aside  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  a7id 
the  lords  of  the  Philistiftes  went  after  them  unto  the  borders 
of  Beth-shemesh.  And  Beth-shemesh — that  is  to  say,  all 
the  villagers,  as  is  the  custom  at  harvest-time — were  in 
the  valley — the  village  itself  lay  high  up   on  the  valley's 

^  I  Samuel  vii. 

"  The  argument  stated  above  for  the  identity  of  the  great  stone  by  Beth- 
shemesh  (i  Samuel  vi.  14,  18)  with  Eben-ezer  (iv.  i,  v.  i,  and  vii.  12)  is 
M.  Clermont  Ganneau's  (P.E.F.Q.,  1874,  279;  1877,  154  ff.).  Wilson 
thinks  Deir  Aban  too  remote  from  Shiloh  and  Mizpeh.  Certainly  it  does  not 
suit  the  topography  of  i  Samuel  vii.  11,  12,  which,  by  the  way,  is  from 
another  document  than  chapters  iv. ,  v.,  and  vi.  According  to  the  Hebrew 
text  of  vii.  II,  12,  Ebenezer  is  under  Beth-car,  perhaps  but  not  certainly  the 
present  'Ain  Karim,  and  between  Mizpeh  and  Hashen,  the  tooth ;  but 
according  to  the  LXX.  under  Beth-Jashan,  between  Mizpeh  and  Jashan  or 
Jeshanah,  that  is,  'Ain  Sinia  north  of  Bethel  (as  M.  Clermont  Ganneau 
himself  suggests),  and  therefore  on  a  possible  line  of  Philistine  advance. 
Chaplin  {P.E.F.Q.  1888,  263  ff.)  suggests  Beit  Iksa  for  Ebenezer  ;  Conder, 
Deir  el  Azar,  near  Kuriet  el  Enab,  and  finds  the  name  Aphek  in  Merj 
Fikieh,  near  Bab  el  Wad.  See  also  Milner,  P.E.F.Q.,  1S87,  iii.  The 
Aphek  marked  on  the  P.E.F.  Red.  Survey  Map  (i89i)atKh.  Beled  el  Foka, 
south  of  Beth-shemesh,  is  one  of  the  too  many  identifications  which  impair 
the  clearness  and  usefulness  of  this  fine  map. 


The  Shephelah  22 


southern  bank — reaping  the  zvheat  harvest,  and  they  lifted 
up  their  eyes  and  sazv  the  ark,  and  came  rejoicing  to  meet  it} 
And  the  cart  came  into  the  field  of  foshua  the  Beths/temite 
and  stood  there,  and  a  great  stone  ivas  there,  and  they  clave  the 
ivood  of  the  cart,  a7idthe  kine  they  offered  as  a  burnt-offering 
to  fehovah — certainly  upon  the  stone.  A  nd  the  five  lords  of 
the  Philistines  saw,  atid  returned  to  Ekron  the  same  day.  .  . 
And  tJie  great  stone  whereon  they  set  down  the  ark  of  Jehovah 
is  a  witness  thereof  iji  tJic  field  of  foshua  the  Bethshemite. 

In  the  Shephelah, however,  the  ark  was  not  to  remain.  The 
story  continues  that  some  of  the  careless  harvesters,  who  had 
run  to  meet  the  ark,  treated  it  too  familiarly — gazed  at  it 
— a7id  fehovah  smote  of  them  threescore  and  ten  menr  The 
plague  which  the  ark  had  brought  upon  Philistia  clung 
about  it  still.  As  stricken  Ashdod  had  passed  it  on  to 
Gath,  Gath  to  Ekron,  and  Ekron  to  Beth-shemesh,  so  Beth- 
shemesh  now  made  haste  to  deposit  it  upon  Jehovah's 
own  territory  of  the  hills  :  To  ivJiom  shall  he  go  up  from 
us  ?  The  nearest  hill-town  was  Kiriath  Kiriath 
Jearim,  the  Tozvn  of  the  Woods?  This  must  Jeanm. 
have  lain  somewhere  about  Mount  Jearim,  the  rugged, 
wooded  highlands,  which  look  down  on  the  basin  of  Sorek 
from  the  north  of  the  great  defile.  But  the  exact  site  is 
not  known  with  certainty.  Some  think  it  was  the  present 
Kuriet  'Enab  to  the  north  of  Mount  Jearim,  and  others 
Khurbet  *Erma  to  the  south,  near  the  mouth  of  the  great 
defile.  Each  of  these,  it  is  claimed,  echoes  the  ancient 
name  ;  each  suits  the  descriptions  of  Kiriath  Jearim  in  the 
Old  Testament.  For  the  story  of  the  ark  Khurbet  'Erma 
has  the  advantage,  lying  close  to  Beth-shemesh,  and  yet  in 

1  So  the  LXX. 

-  Most  authorities  omit  the  previousyf/?y  thousand.  "  Jer.  xxvi.  20. 

P 


2  26    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  hill-country.  Leaving  the  question  of  the  exact  site 
open,  we  must  be  satisfied  with  the  knowledge  that  Kiriath 
Jearim  lay  on  the  western  border  of  Benjamin  ;  once  the 
ark  was  set  there,  it  was  off  the  debatable  ground  of  the 
Shephelah  and  within  Israel's  proper  territory.  Here,  in 
the  field  of  the  woods}  it  rested  till  David  brought  it  up  to 
Jerusalem,  and  that  was  probably  why  Kiriath  Jearim  was 
also  called  Kiriath  Baal,  or  Baal  of  Judah,  for  in  those 
times  Baal  was  not  a  name  of  reproach,  but  the  title 
even  of  Jehovah  as  Lord  and  Preserver  of  His  people's 
land.2 

3.  The  third  valley  which  cuts  the    Shephelah    is  the 

Wady  es  Sunt,  which,  when  it  gets  to  the  back  of  the  low 

hills,  turns  south  into  the  Wady  es   Sur,   the 

ValeofElah.  ,        ,  ,  ot        1     1    1 

great  trench  between  the  Shephelah  and 
Judah.  Near  the  turning  the  narrow  Wady  el  Jindy  curves 
off  to  the  north-west  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Bethlehem. 
The  Wady  es   Sunt  is  probably  the  Vale  of  Elah.^     Its 

^  Psalm  cxxxii.  6. 

"  Robinson  suggested  K.  'Enab,  and  this  suits  the  data  of  the  Onomaslicon, 
which  places  Kiriath  Jearim  at  the  ninth  milestone  from  Jerusalem  towards 
Lydda.  It  lies  also  convenient  to  the  other  towns  of  the  Gibeonite  League 
to  which  it  belonged,  Gibeon,  Chephirah,  and  Beeroth  (Joshua  ix.  17  ;  cf. 
Ezra  ii.  25) ;  it  suits  the  place  of  Kiriath  Jearim  on  the  borders  of  Judah  and 
Benjamin  (Joshua  xv.  9,  xviii.  14),  and  it  can  be  reached  by  an  easy  road 
from  Beth-shemesh.  Khurbet  'Erma  was  first  suggested  by  Henderson,  and 
then  examined  and  accepted  by  Conder  (see  Henderson's  Palestine,  85,  112, 
210).  The  name  has  the  consonants  of  Je'arim  (exactly  those  in  Ezra  ii.  25, 
where  the  name  is  'arim),  but  it  also  means  '  heaps  of  corn,'  and  may  not  be 
derived  from  the  ancient  name.  The  site  may  be  fitted  into  the  line  of  the 
borders  of  Benjamin  and  Judah.  The  site  is  ancient,  with  a  platform  of  rock 
that  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  high-place  or  shrine  (Conder,  P.E.F.  Q.,  1881, 
265).  But  it  is  very  far  away  from  the  other  members  of  the  Gibeonite 
league.     On  Baal-Jehudah,  see  2  Samuel  vi.  2. 

■^  Sunt  is  the  terebinth.  Elah  is  any  large  evergreen  tree,  like  ilex  or  tere- 
binth (Baudissin,  Stud.  ii.  1S5,  n.  i).  The  Vale  of  Elah,  i  Samuel  xvii.  2, 
19  ;  xxi.  9. 


The  Shephelah  227 


entrance  from  the  Philistine  Plain  is  commanded  by  the 
famous  Tell-es-Safiyeh,  the  Blanchegarde  of  the  Crusaders, 
whose  hicrh  white  front  looks  west  across  the 

^^  ,  ,  ,        Tell-cs-Sali. 

plain  twelve  miles  to  Ashdod.  Blanchegarde 
must  always  have  been  a  formidable  position,  and  it  is 
simply  inability  to  assign  to  the  site  any  other  Biblical 
town — for  Libnah  has  no  satisfactory  claims — that  makes 
the  case  so  strong  for  its  having  been  the  site  of  Gath. 
Blanchegarde  is  twenty-three  miles  from  Jerusalem,  but 
the  way  up  is  most  difficult  after  you  leave  the  Wady  es 
Sunt  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  when  Richard  decided 
to  besiege  Jerusalem,  and  had  already  marched  from  Aska- 
lon  to  Blanchegarde  on  his  way,  instead  of  then  pursuing 
.  the  Wady  es  Sunt  and  its  narrow  continuation  to  Beth- 
lehem, he  preferred  to  turn  north  two  days'  march  across 
the  Shephelah  hills  with  his  flank  to  the  enemy,  and  to 
attack  his  goal  up  the  Valley  of  Ajalon.^ 

An  hour's  ride  from  Tell-es-Safi  up  the  winding  Vale  of 
Elah  brings  us  through  the  Shephelah,  to  where  the  Wady 
es  Sur  turns  south  towards  Hebron,"  and  the  narrow  Wady 
el  Jindy  strikes  up  towards  Bethlehem.  At  the  junction 
of  the  three  there  is  a  level  plain,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  broad, 
cut  by  two  brooks,  which  combine  to  form  the  stream 
down  Wady  es  Sunt.  This  plain  is  probably  David  and 
the  scene  of  David's  encounter  with  Goliath  ;  Goliath. 
for  to  the  south  of  it,  on  the  low  hills  that  bcnmd  the 
Wady  es  Sunt  in  that  direction,  is  the  name  Shuweikeh, 
probably  the  Shocoh,  on  which  the  Philistines  rested  their 
rear  and  faced  the  Israelites  across  the  valley. 

The  '  Gai,'  or  ravine,  which  separated  them  has  been 

^  Vinsauf,  Itin.  Ric.  v.  48.     See  p.  214. 

-  The  Wady  es  Sur  and  the  Wady  es  Sunt  are  parts  of  the  same  Wady. 


2  28    The  Historical  Geogi^apJiy  of  the  Holy  Land 

recognised  in  the  deep  trench  which  the  combined  streams 
have  cut  through  the  level  land,  and  on  the  other  side 
there  is  the  Wady  el  Jindy,  a  natural  road  for  the  Israel- 
ites to  have  come  down  from  their  hills.  Near  by  is  Beit 
Fased,  probably  an  echo  of  Ephes-Dammim,  and  on  the 
spot  where  we  should  seek  for  the  latter.  It  is  the  very 
battle-field  for  those  ancient  foes  :  Israel  in  one  of  the 
gateways  to  her  mountain-land  ;  the  Philistines  on  the  low 
hills  they  so  often  overran ;  and  between  them  the  great 
valley  that  divides  Judah  from  the  Shephelah.  Major 
Conder  and  Principal  Miller  have  given  detailed  descrip- 
tions of  the  battle  and  its  field.^  Only  the  following  needs 
to  be  added  :  Shocoh  is  a  strong  position  isolated  from  the 
rest  of  the  ridge,  and  it  keeps  open  the  line  of  retreat  down 
the  valley.  Saul's  army  was  probably  not  immediately 
opposite,  but  a  little  way  up  on  the  slopes  of  the  incoming 
Wady  el  Jindy,  and  so  placed  that  the  Philistines,  in 
attacking  it,  must  cross  not  only  the  level  land  and  the 
main  stream,  but  one  of  the  two  other  streams  as  well,  and 
must  also  climb  the  slopes  for  some  distance.  Both  posi- 
tions were  thus  very  strong,  and  this  fact  perhaps  explains 
the  long  hesitation  of  the  armies  in  face  of  each  other, 
even  though  the  Philistines  had  the  advantage  of  Goliath. 
The  Israelite  position  certainly  looks  the  stronger.  It  is 
interesting,  too,  that  from  its  rear  the  narrow  pass  goes 
right  up  to  the  interior  of  the  land  near  Bethlehem  ;  so 
that  the  shepherd-boy,  whom  the  story  represents  as  being 
sent  by  his  father  for  news  of  the  battle,  would  have 
almost  twelve  miles  to  cover  between  his  father's  house 
and  the  camp. 

1  Conder,  P.E.F.Q.,  1876,  40;   T.W.,  279.     Miller,  Least  of  all  Latids, 
ch.  v.,  with  a  plan  of  the  field.     Cf.  Cheyne,  Hallowing  of  Criticism. 


The  Shephelali  229 


If  you  ride  southwards  from  the  battle-field  up  the  Wady 
es  Sur,  you  come  in  about  two  hours  to  a  wide  valley 
running  into  the  Shephelah  on  the  right.     On 

•  1  -11        •  1         Adullam. 

the  south  side  of  this  there  is  a  steep  hill,  with 
a  well  at  the  foot  of  it,  and  at  the  top  the  shrine  of  a 
Mohammedan  saint.  They  call  the  hill  by  a  name  'Aid-el- 
ma,  in  w  hich  it  is  possible  to  hear  'Adullam,  and  its  posi- 
tion suits  all  that  we  are  told  about  David's  stronghold.  It 
stands  well  off  the  Central  Range,  and  is  very  defensible. 
There  is  water  in  the  valley,  and  near  the  top  some 
large  low  caves,  partly  artificial.  If  we  can  dismiss  the 
idea  that  all  David's  four  hundred  men  got  into  the  cave 
of  Adullam — a  pure  fancy  for  which  the  false  tradition, 
that  the  enormous  cave  of  Khareitun  near  Bethlehem  is 
Adullam,  is  responsible — we  shall  admit  that  this  hill  was 
just  such  a  strongJwld  as  David  is  said  to  have  chosen.  It 
looks  over  to  Judah,  and  down  the  Wady  es  Sunt ;  it 
covers  two  high-roads  into  the  former,  and  Bethlehem, 
from  which  David's  three  mighty  men  carried  the  water 
he  sighed  for,  is,  as  the  crow  flies,  not  twelve  miles  awa}'. 
The  site  is,  therefore,  entirely  suitable  ;  and  yet  we  cannot 
say  that  there  is  enough  resemblance  in  the  modern  name 
to  place  it  beyond  doubt  as  Adullam. ^ 

^  The  tradition  that  Adullam  is  the  great  cave  of  Khareitun  {i.e.  Saint 
Chariton,  d.  410),  SE.  of  Bethlehem,  cannot  be  traced  behind  the  Crusaders. 
It  is  probably  due  to  them.  The  Adullam  of  the  Old  Testament  lay  off  the 
Central  Range  altogether,  for  men  from  the  latter  went  down  to  it  (Gen. 
xxxviii.  I;  i  Sam.  xxii.  I  ;  2  Sam.  xxiii.  13).  The  prophet  Gad  bids  David 
leave  it  and  go  into  the  landof  Jitdah  (l  Sam.  xxii.  5)  ;  and  it  is  reckoned  with 
.Shocoh,  Azekah,  Gath,  Mareshah,  and  other  towns  in  the  Shephelah  west  of 
Hebron  (Joshua  xv.  35,  in  the  list  of  towns  in  the  Shephelah,  v.  33  ; 
Nehemiah  xi.  30;  INIicah  i.  15  ;  2  Chronicles  xi.  7  ;  cf.  2  Mace.  xii.  38). 
So  great  a  mass  of  evidence  is  conclusive  for  a  position  somewhere  in  the 
Shephelah.  It  is  not  contradicted  in  the  two  passages  (2  Samuel  xxiii.  13  ; 
I  Chronicles  xi.  15)  describing  how  water  was  brought  to  David  in  Adullam 


f 


230   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

The  only  other  famous  site  up  the  Wady  es  Sur  is  that 

of  Ke'ilah,  or  Kegilah.     It  is  probably  the  present  Kela, 

a  hill  covered  with  ruins  on  the  Tudaean  side  of 

Ke'ilah.  •' 

the  valley.     When  David  returned  from  Adul- 

1am  to  Judah,  he  heard  that  the  Philistines  were  besieging 

Ke'ilah,  a  fenced  town  with  bolts  and  bars}     In  obedience 

to  the  oracle  of  Jehovah,  he  and   his   men   attacked   the 

Philistines,  and  relieved  it.     But  Saul  heard  he  was  there, 

and  hoped,  with  the  connivance  of  the  inhabitants,  to  catch 

him   in  a  trap.      David,  therefore,  hurriedly  left   Ke'ilah, 

and  for  a  time  the  whole  Shephelah,  for  the  wilderness  on 

the  other  side  of  Judah." 

4.  The  fourth  of  the  valleys  that  cut  the  Shephelah  is 

from  the  well  at  Bethlehem,  twelve  miles  from  the  nearest  site  on  the 
Shephelah.  Stade  {G.  V.I.  i.  244)  reads  i  Samuel  xxiii.  3,  as  ascribing  to 
Adullam  a  position  in  Judah,  but  he  manages  this  only  by  reading  xxii.  5  as 
a  gloss,  and  for  this  there  are  no  real  grounds.  Retain  xxii.  5,  which  tells 
how  David  went  back  from  Adullam  to  Judah,  and  xxiii.  3,  though  probably 
from  another  document  than  xxii.,  follows  on  correctly.  Finally,  there  is  no 
reason  for  separating  the  cave  from  the  city  Adullam  (so  Birch,  P.E.F.Q., 
1884,  p.  61  ;  1886,  p.  31).  Adullam,  then,  being  proved  to  be  on  the 
Shephelah,  the  next  question  is  the  exact  site.  And  as  to  this,  it  is  safest  to 
say  that,  while  many  sites  are  possible,  'Aid-el-ma  is  the  preferable.  It  is  the 
only  one  that  possibly  has  an  echo  of  the  old  name,  and,  lying  as  it  does  on 
the  east  of  the  Shephelah,  it  suits  AduUam's  frequent  association  in  the  Old 
Testament  with  Shocoh  and  Azekah,  while  it  is  only  some  seven  miles  from 
Mareshah,  with  which  Micah  joins  it.  Deir  Dubban,  suggested  by  V. 
de  Velde  {Reise,  etc. ,  ii.  155  ff. ),  is  on  the  west  slope  of  the  Shephelah,  and  has 
really  no  point  in  its  favour  but  its  caves.  Clermont  Ganneau  is  the  dis- 
coverer of  'Aid-el-ma.  The  Otiomasticon  need  not  be  taken  into  account. 
It  confounds  Adullam  and  Eglon. 

^  I  Sam.  xxiii. 

-  The  site  Khurbet  Kela  was  proposed  by  Guerin,y>/^.  iii.  341.  In  Josh. 
XV.  43,  44,  it  is  mentioned  with  Nesib,  and  this  is  probably  the  neighbouring 
Beit-Nasib.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  Tell-el- Aniarna  Tablets,  Conder,  pp.  143, 
144,  151-155,  and  Nasib  157.  It  is  practically  on  the  Shephelah  (this  against 
Dillmann).  The  Onomasticon  confounds,  and  puts  KeaXd  on  Hebron  and 
Beit-Jibrin  road  at  seven  (or  seventeen)  miles  from  Hebron.  This  is  evi- 
dently Beit-Kahil,  which  is  not  in  the  Shephelah,  but  on  the  mountains  of 
Judah. 


The  Shephelak  231 


that  now  named  the  Wady  el  'Afranj,  which  runs  from 
opposite  Hebron  north-west  to  Ashdod  and  the  coast.  It  is 
important  as  containing  the  real  capital  of  wadyei 
the  Shephelah,  the  present  Beit-Jibrin.^  This  '-^franj- 
site  has  not  been  identified  with  any  Old  Testament  name,- 
but,  like  so  many  other  places  in  Palestine,  its  permanent 
importance  is  illustrated  by  its  use  during  Roman  times, 
and  especially  during  the  Crusades.     It  is  not 

,  f.  ,  ,  ,      1  .      .       Beit-Jibrin. 

a  place  of  any  natural  strength,  and  this  is 
perhaps  wh}-  we  hear  nothing  of  it,  so  far  as  we  know, 
during  the  older  history  ;  but  it  is  the  converging  point  of 
many  roads,  and  the  soft  chalk  of  the  district  lends  itself 
admirably  to  the  hewing  of  intricate  caves— two  facts 
which  fully  account  for  its  later  importance.  Indeed,  these 
caves  have  been  claimed  as  proof  that  the  Horites,  or 
cave-dwellers,  of  the  early  history  of  Israel,  had  their  centre 
here,^  but  none  of  them  bear  any  mark  older  than  the 
Christian  era.  The  first  possible  mention  of  Beit-Jibrin  is 
in  an  amended  passage  of  Josephus,  where  he  describes  it 
as  a  stronghold  of  the  Idumseans,  who  overran  the  She- 
phelah in  the  last  centuries  before  Christ,  and  as  taken  b\- 
Vespasian  when  he  was  blockading  the  approaches  to  Jeru- 
salem."*    The  Romans  built  roads  from  it  in  all  directions, 

^  Ptolemy,  XV.  '  Betogabra  ; '  Tab.  Pent.  '  Betogubri.'  Nestle,  Z.  A/".  F. 
i.  222-225,  takes  it  to  be  the  Aramaic  N13J  n''3 — '  House  of  the  Men,'  or 
'  Strong  Men ' — and  shows  its  identity  with  Eleutheropolis  from  a  Syrian  MS. 
of  the  third  century.  Robinson,  B.R.  ii.  6i,  had  already  put  this  past  doubt. 
In  the  same  paper  Nestle,  on  good  grounds,  places  Elkosh,  the  birthplace  of 
Nahum,  close  by. 

-  Thomson,  Z.  and  B.,  proposes  it  as  the  site  of  Gath,  but  see  p.  194  f. 

^  Tahn.  Bereskith  Rabba,  xlii.  describes  Eleutheropolis  as  inhabited  by 
Horites,  and  derives  the  name  Free-town  from  the  fact  that  the  Horim  chose 
these  caves  that  they  might  dwell  there  in  liberty  !  So  also  Jerome,  Coinm. 
in  Obadiam. 

*  iv.  Wars,  viii.   i,  liy  reading  j3r]ya^pis  for  jBrjTapis. 


232    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  high  straight  Hnes  of  which  still  dominate  the  brush- 
wood and  corn-fields  of  the  neighbouring  valleys.  About 
200  A.D.  Septimius  Severus  refounded  it,  and  its  name  was 
changed  to  Eleutheropolis.^  It  was  the  centre  of  the 
district,  the  half-way  house  between  Jerusalem  and  Gaza, 
Hebron  and  Lydda,  and  the  Ononiasticon  measures  from 
it  all  distances  in  the  Shephelah. 

Many  times,  as  our  horses'  hoofs  strike  pavement  on  the 
Roman  roads  of  Palestine,  and  we  lift  our  eyes  to  the 
unmistakable  line  across  the  landscape,  we 
pilgrims  from  the  far  north  are  reminded 
that  these  same  straight  lines  cross  our  own  island, 
that  by  our  own  doors  milestones  have  been  dug  up 
similar  to  those  which  lie  here,  and  we  are  thrilled  with 
some  imagination  of  what  the  Roman  Empire  was,  and 
how  it  grasped  the  world.  But  by  Beit-Jibrin  this  feeling 
grows  still  more  intense,  for  the  Roman  buildings  there 
are  mostly  the  work  of  the  same  emperor  who  built  the 
wall  on  the  Tyne,  and  hewed  his  way  through  Scotland 
to  the  shores  of  the  Pentland  Firth, 

There  are  early  Christian  remains  at  Beit-Jibrin,  both 
caves  and  churches,  but  we  shall  take  them  up  afterwards  in 
speaking  of  the  rise  of  Christianity  throughout 
and  the         the  Shephelah.     The  Crusaders  came  to  Beit- 
Jibrin,  or  Gibelin  as  they  called  it,  and  thought 
it  was  Beersheba.^     They  made  it  their  base  against  Aska- 
lon,  and  Fulke  of  Anjou  built  the  citadel.     It  was  in  charge 
of  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  and  they  attempted  to  colonise 

^  The  date  is  fixed  by  the  earliest  coins  of  the  city,  with  its  new  name  and 
tlie  name  of  Severus,  of  the  years  202,  203  A.D. 

-  Gibelin,  also  Begibelinum  and  Bersabe  Judreae.  Rohricht,  Z.D.P.  V. 
X.  240. 


The  Shephelah 


the  neighbourhood  in  ii68.^  The  monuments  they  have 
left  are  some  ruins  of  a  beautiful  Gothic  church,  some 
thick  fortifications,  and  their  name  in  the  Wady  el  'Afranj, 
or  '  Valley  of  the  Franks.' 

Not  two  miles  from  Bcit-Jibrin  lies  Mer'ash,  the  Mare- 
shah  or  Moresheth-gath  of  the  Old  Testament,"  and 
birthplace  of  the  prophets  Eliezer  and  Micah. 

/-    T-  1  •       •  Marcshah. 

In  the  reign  of  Asa  an  army  of  tthiopians, 
under  Zerah,  came  up  this  avenue  through  the  Shephelah, 
but  by  Mareshah  Asa  defeated  them,  and  pursued  them 
to  Gerar.3  In  163  B.C.  Judas  Maccabeus  laid  Mareshah 
waste  in  his  campaign  against  the  Idumaeans.^  John 
Hyrcanus  took  it  again  from  their  hands  in  no,  and 
Pompey  gave  it  back  to  them.''  Mareshah  was  one  of 
the  towns  Gabinius  rebuilt,  but  the  Parthians,  in  40  B.C., 
swept  down  on  it,^  and  thereafter  we  hear  no  more  of  it 
till  Eusebius  tells  us  it  is  desert.^  Thus  it  w^as  an  impor- 
tant and  'a  powerful  town '  ^  as  long  as  Beit-Jibrin  was 
unheard  of;  when  Beit-Jibrin  comes  into  history,  it  dis- 
appears. Can  we  doubt  that  we  have  here  one  of  those 
frequent  instances  of  the  transference  of  a  community  to  a 
new  and  neighbouring  site?  If  this  be  so,  we  have  now 
full  explanation  of  the  silence  of  the  Old  Testament  about 
Beit-Jibrin  ;  it  was  really  represented  by  Mareshah. 

^  Will,  of  Tyre,  xiv.  22,     On  the  colony  see  Prutz,  Z.D.P.  V.  iv.  113. 
2  Josh.  XV.  44 ;   2  Chron.  xi.  8 ;  xiv.  9,  10 ;  xx.  37  ;  Micah  i.  i,  15  ;  Jer. 
xxvi.  18 ;  2  Mace.  xii.  35. 

*  2  Chron.  xiv.  gff.  The  Massoretic  Text  places  the  battle  in  the  \'alley  of 
Sephathah  (nDDV  ''J)  at  IMareshah,  LXX.  gives  north  of  Mareshah.  Robin- 
son, Bil>.  lies.  ii.  31,  compares  Sephathah  with  Tell-es-Safiyeh. 

*  163  B.C.,  as  he  went  from  Hebron  to  Ashdod,  Josephus  xii.  Atitt.  viii.  6. 
In  I  Mace.  v.  66,  read  'Mapivaa  for  'Za/xapeia. 

^  Josephus,  xiii.  AjiU.  ix.  i  ;  xiv.  ^«//.  iv.  4. 

•^  /b.  xiii.  Q.  ''  Onom.  Mdono-a.  ^  .So  Joseohus. 


234   ^-^"^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

5.    The  last  of  the  valleys  through  the   Shephelah  is 

Wady  el  Hesy,  or  Wady  el  Jizair,  running  from  a  point 

about  six  miles  south-west  of  Hebron  to  the 

Wady  el  Hesy. 

sea,  between  Gaza  and  Askalon.  This  valley 
also  has  its  important  sites  ;  for  Lachish,  which  used  to  be 
placed  at  Umm  Lakis,  on  the  slopes  to  the  south,  is  now, 
by  the  English  survey  and  excavations,  proved  to  have 
been  Tell  el  Hesy,  a  mound  in  the  bed  of  the  valley,  and 
Eglon — the  present  'Ajlan — is  not  far  off.  These  two 
were  very  ancient  Amorite  fortresses.  Eglon  disappeared 
from  history  at  an  early  period,  but  Lachish  endured, 
always  fulfilling  the  same  function,  time  after  time  suffering 
the  same  fate.     Her  valley  is  the  first  in  the  Shephelah 

which  the  roads  from  Egypt  strike,  and  Gaza 

Lachish.  .  1        t        1  •   1     1 

stands  at  its  lower  end.  Lachish  has  therefore 
throughout  history  played  second  to  Gaza,  now  an  outpost 
of  Egypt,  and  now  a  frontier  fortress  of  Syria.  In  the 
Tell-el-Amarna  Letters  we  read  of  her  in  Egyptian  hands. 
She  is  the  farthest  city  Egyptwards  which  Rehoboam 
fortifies.^  Sennacherib  must  take  her  before  he  invades 
Egypt-  During  the  Latin  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  her 
successor  at  Umm  Lakis  is  held  by  the  Order  of  the 
Hospitallers,^  for  the  same  strategical  reasons.'^  Again, 
some  five  miles  above  Lachish,  at  the  Wells  of  Oassaba,  or 
'  the  Reeds,'  there  is  usually  wealth  of  water,  and  all  the 
year  round  a  stream.  Latin  chronicles  of  the  Crusades 
know  the  place  as  Cannetum  Esturnellorum,  or  '  the  Cane- 

^  2  Chron.  xi.  9. 

2  2  Kings  xviii.  14,  17  ;  xix.  8  ;  Isa.  xxxvi.  2  ;  xxxvii.  8  ;  2  Chron.  xxxii.  9. 

^  Their  name  for  Lachish,  Malagues  or  Malaques  (cf.  Rohricht,  Z.D.P.  V. 
^-  239)— that  is,  Umm  Lakis — is  a  good  instance  of  what  the  unfortunate 
names  of  this  country  have  suffered  at  the  mouths  of  its  conquerors. 

■*  On  Lachish  excavated  see  Petrie,  Tell  el  Hesy, \%q\  ;  Bliss,  P.  E.  F.  Q.  1892  f. 


The  Shephelah  235 


brake  of  the  Starlings  : '  and  Richard  twice  made  it  a  base 
of  operations — once  on  coming  up  the  Wady  el  Hesy  from 
the  coast,  when  he  advanced  on  Beit-Jibrin,  and  once  again 
when  he  came  south  to  intercept,  in  the  Wady  esh  Sheria,  a 
rich  caravan  on  its  way  from  Egypt.^  Through  all  these 
ages,  then,  Lachish  was  an  outpost,  and,  as  we  should  now 
say,  a  customs-station,  between  Juda;a  and  Egypt.  War 
and  commerce  both  swept  past  her.  But  this  enables  us  to 
understand  her  neighbour  Micah's  word  about  her.  In  his 
day  Judah's  sin  was  to  lean  on  Egypt,  to  accept  Egyptian 
subsidies  of  horses  and  chariots.  So  Micah  mocks  Lachish, 
playing  on  the  assonance  of  her  name  to  that  for  a  horse  : 
Yoke  the  wagon  to  the  steed,  O  inliabitress  of  Lachish ;  begin- 
ning of  sin  is  she  to  the  daughter  of  Zion,  for  in  thee  are 
found  the  transgressions  of  Israel:^ 

I  have  now  explained  the  strategic  importance  of  the 
Shephelah,  and  especially  of  the  five  valleys  which  are  the 
only  possibilities  of  passage  through  it  for  great  armies. 
How  much  of  the  history  of  all  these  centuries  can  be 
placed  along  one  or  other  of  them  ;  and,  when  we  have 
placed  it,  how  much  more  vivid  that  history  becomes  ! 

There  is  one  great  campaign  in  the  Shephelah  ^^'hich  we 
have  not  discussed  in  connection  with  any  of  the  main 
routes,  because  the  details  of  it  are  obscure — 

Sennacherib 

Sennacherib's   invasion   of  Syria   in  701    B.C.   in  the 

Shephelah. 

But  the  general  course  01  this,  as  told  in  the 
Assyrian  annals  and  in  the  Bible,  becomes  plain  in  the 
light    of  the   geography  we   have   been    studying.     Sen- 
nacherib, coming   down  the  coast,  like  the  Syrians  and 

1  Vinsauf,  Itm.  Ricard,  v.  41  ;  vi.  4.     On  the  identification  of  Qassaba 
with  the  Cannetum  Esturnellorum,  see  Clennont  Ganneau,  Recueil,  etc.,  378. 
-  Micah  i.  13. 


236    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Crusaders,  like  them  also  conquered  first  the  towns  about 
Joppa.  Then  he  defeated  an  Egyptian  army  before  Al- 
teku,  somewhere  near  Ekron,  on  the  Philistine  Plain,^  and 
took  Ekron  and  Timnah.  With  Egypt  beaten  back,  and 
the  Northern  Shephelah  mastered,  his  way  was  now  open 
into  Judah,  the  invasion  of  which  and  the  investment  of 
Jerusalem  accordingly  appear  next  in  the  list  of  Sen- 
nacherib's triumphs.  These  must  have  been  effected  by  a 
detachment  of  the  Assyrian  army,  for  Sennacherib  himself 
is  next  heard  of  in  the  Southern  Shephelah,  besieging 
Lachish  and  Libnah,  no  doubt  with  the  view  of  securing 
his  way  to  Egypt.  At  Lachish  he  received  the  tribute 
of  Hezekiah,  who  thus  hoped  to  purchase  the  relief  of  the 
still  inviolate  Jerusalem  ;  but,  in  spite  of  the  tribute,  he 
sent  to  Hezekiah  from  Lachish  and  Libnah  two  peremp- 
tory demands  for  her  surrender.  Then  suddenly,  in  the 
moment  of  Zion's  despair,  the  Assyrian  army  was  smitten, 
not,  as  we  usually  imagine,  round  the  walls  of  Jerusalem, 
for  the  Bible  nowhere  implies  that,  but  under  Sennacherib 
himself  in  the  main  camp  and  headquarters.  Either  these 
were  still  in  the  Southern  Shephelah — for  Sennacherib's 
own  annals  do  not  carry  him  south  of  Lachish,  and  Egypt 
often  sent  her  plagues  up  this  way  to  Palestine  ^ — or,  if  we 
may  believe  Herodotus,  they  had  crossed  the  desert  to 
Pelusium,  and  were  overtaken  in  that  pestiferous  region, 
which  has  destroyed  so  many  armies.^ 

1  Alteku,  the  Eltekeh  of  Josh.  xix.  44,  cannot  be  where  the  P.E.F.  Red. 
Map  (1891)  makes  it,  at  Beit-Likea,  far  up  Ajalon — for  how  could  an  Egyp- 
tian and  Assyrian  army  have  met  there  ? — but  was  near  Ekron,  on  the  road 
to  Egypt.     Here  Kh.  Lezka  is  the  only  modern  name  like  it. 

-  I  R.P.  I.;  Schrader,  K.A.  T.  i.  p.  21S  ff. ;  Stade,  Gesch.  i.  620  ff.  ;  IsaiaJi, 
Exp.  Bible,  i.  chaps,  xix.  to  xxiii.  Schrader  wrongly  makes  the  crisis  at  the 
battle  of  Eltekeh.  3  gee  p.  158  f. 


CHAPTER    XI 

ExARLY  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  SHEPHELAH 
ITS  CAVES  AND  CHURCHES 


237 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Map  IV. 


EARLY  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  SHEPHELAH  : 
ITS  CAVES  AND  CHURCHES 

OUR  study  of  the  Shephelah  has  covered  only  the 
campaigns  and  battles  which  have  ranged  over  its 
very  debatable  ground.  But  the  region  had  its  victories  of 
peace  as  well  as  of  war,  and  throughout  it  you  find 
to-day  ruins  of  cloisters  and  of  churches,  and  caves  with 
Christian  symbols.  Many  of  the  former  are,  no  doubt, 
ruins  of  Crusaders'  buildings ;  but  some  go  back  to  the 
Byzantine  period,  and  the  caves  with  the  crosses  marked 
on  their  walls  are  probably  early  Christian.  Christianity 
conquered  the  Shephelah  almost  before  any  other  part  of 
Palestine,  and  the  story  of  the  conquest  is  a  heroic  one.^ 

Among  the  crowds  who  followed  our  Lord  at  the 
beginning  of  His  ministry  were  many  from  Iduma^a.- 
Idumsea   was    then    practically   the    southern 

Idumsea. 

Shephelah,  with  the  Negeb.  The  Edomites 
had  come  up  on  it  during  the  Jewish  exile,  and  after  the 
return  of  the  Jews  they  continued  to  hold  the  greater  part 
of  it.  Judas  Maccabeus  temporarily  conquered  their  ter- 
ritory,^ but  John  Hyrcanus  brought  them  under  the  law 
and  circumcised  them.*     By  the  Law  the  third  generation 

^  It  is  told  in  the  histories  of  Eusebius,  Socrates  and  Sozomen,  in  Jerome's 
Letters,  and  in  his  Life  of  Hilar  ion.  Stark's  Gaza,  etc.,  §  1 6,  takes  it  up  at 
points.  "  Mark  iii.  8.  ^  See  p.  233. 

■•  About  125  B.C.  Joseohus  xiii.   Antt.  ix.  I  ;  i.  Wars  ii.  6. 

239 


240   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

of  Edomites  were  admitted  to  the  full  privileges  of  Israel,^ 
so  that  in  our  Lord's  time  Idumaea  was  practically  a  part 
of  Judaea,  with  a  Jewish  population.^  Many  out  of 
Idumaea  heard  Him,  and  it  is  probable  that  Idumasans 
were  present  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.    Apostles 

The  Apostles  r  /  r 

in  the  and  evangelists  went  down  into  the  Shephelah. 

Shephelah. 

Peter  we  have  seen  at  Lydda,  and  from  the 
Christians  at  Lydda,  influences  might  easily  pass  across 
the  whole  region  by  the  high-road  to  Beit-Jibrin.  Philip 
met  the  Ethiopian  somewhere  in  the  southern  Shephelah, 
and  was  afterwards  found  at  Ashdod.^  Very  early,  then, 
little  communities  of  Christians  must  have  been  formed 
among  these  beautiful  glens  and  moors.  Tradition  assigns 
one  of  the  Twelve,  Simon  Judas,  to  Beit-Jibrin.^  When 
times  of  persecution  came,  we  can  understand  how 
readily  this  land  of  caves,  where  David  and  his  men  had 
hid  themselves  from  Saul,  would  be  used  by  Christian 
fugitives  from  the  Greek  cities  of  the  coast.  The  habits 
of  the  ascetic  life  also  spread  here  from  Egypt.  Monks 
and  hermits  settled  first  to  the  south  of  Gaza,^  then  came 
up  the  Wady  el  Hesy  to  the  district  round  Beit-Jibrin, 
and  found  among  the  villages  of  the  Shephelah  a  far 
nobler  work  to  do  than  their  brother  monks  of  the  Libyan 
and  Arabian  deserts.  With  a  persistence  and  success, 
the  proof  of  which  appeared  in  the  aid  rendered  by  the 
country  districts  to  the  Christians  of  the  cities  in  the 
struggles  of  the  fourth  century,  they  converted  the 
peasants  and  built  them  up  in  the  faith.    Here  the  contrast 

1  Deut.  xxiii.  8,  9  (Heb.  but  Eng.  Version,  7,  8). 

"  How  violently  Jewish  may  be  seen  from  the  part  they  took  to  themselves 
in  the  Jewish  revolt  of  66  a.d. — ^Jos.  iv.  Wars,  iv.  4.  ^  Acts  viii.  39. 

*  Stark's  Gaza,  etc.,  p.  613 — after  the  De  LXX.  Domini discipidis. 
^  Jerome's  Life  of  Hilarion. 


Early  Christianity  in  the  Shephelah         241 

which  was  seen  all  over  the  rest  of  the  world  was  reversed, 
and  '  urban  '  might  have  been  taken  as  the  synonym  of 
idolater,  but  'heathen'  and  'pagan'  as  the  by-names  of 
the  Christians.  Even  so  early  as  the  Decian  persecutions, 
and  still  more  in  those  which  the  Church  suffered  under 
Diocletian  and  Maximin,  many  confessors  were  brought  in 
'  from  the  country '  to  martyrdom  at  Caesarea, 

^  ■'  The  Martyrs 

or    sent   back   to   their   glens    mutilated   and    of  the 

\  ,      -  Shephelah. 

branded.!      Some   have   been    named    tor   us.  ^  ,  , 

Romulus,  a  sub-deacon  of  the  Church  at  Lydda,  was  one 
of  six  young  men  who,  first  binding  their  hands,  went  to 
the  amphitheatre  of  Caesarea,  where  some  of  their  brethren 
were  being  thrown  to  the  beasts,  and  boldly  declared 
themselves  to  the  governor  as  Christians.^  They  were 
beheaded.  Zebina  of  Beit-Jibrin  was  one  of  three  who 
defied  the  Governor  of  Caesarea,  when  he  was  sacrificing 
to  idols.  They  were  executed.^  Petrus  Asketes,  a  youth 
from  Anea  in  the  borders  of  Beit-Jibrin,  was  burned  to 
death  in  the  same  city.^  The  Shephelah  lay  at  the  very 
doors  of  that  slaughter-house,  into  which  the  fury  of 
Maximin  had  converted  the  whole  Syrian  coast  from 
Egypt  to  Cilicia  ;  and  during  the  eight  ^  years  of  the 
great  persecution  its  Christian  communities  must  have 
been  constantly  thrilled  by  the  stories  of  heroism,  martyr- 
dom, and  miracle  which  came  up  to  them  from  the  sea- 
board. Lying  in  caves,  the  mouths  of  many  of  which  look 
out  over  the  plain  upon  Gaza  and  Askalon,  they  were  told 
how  the  gates  of  these  cities  were  beset  by  spies,  and 
Christians  were  caught  as  they  came  in  from  the  country 
or  were  travelling  between  Cilicia  and  Egypt ;  how  some 

'  Euseb.  H.E.  viii.  passim.  -  lb,  3.  ■*  lb.  9. 

■*  lb.   10,  ^  So  ib.  13  ;  but  '  ten  years,'  ib.  1 5. 

O 


242    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

were  found  in  the  towns  reading  the  Scriptures,  and 
dragged  before  the  prefect ;  how  some  were  burned,  and 
all  were  tortured  ;  how  some  were  thrown  to  the  wild 
beasts,  and  some  were  trained  for  pugilistic  combats  to 
make  a  Roman  holiday ;  how  human  heads  and  limbs 
were  sometimes  scattered  about  the  gates  to  terrify  the 
peasants  as  they  came  in  ;  and  how  a  strange  dew  once 
broke  out  on  all  the  buildings  of  Csesarea,  and  people 
said  that  the  very  stones  must  weep  at  cruelties  so  terrible. 
And  men  wanting  a  foot,  or  a  hand,  or  an  eye,  or  seared 
across  the  face,  or  with  their  sides  torn  by  hooks,  would 
come  up  to  these  caves  to  die  ;  and  some  country  youths, 
emulous  of  martyrdom,  would  rush  off  to  Caesarea  and 
defy  the  governor  himself  in  the  great  theatre.  These 
things  are  told  by  Eusebius,  who  lived  through  them,  and 
is  a  sober  and  accurate  writer.^ 

The  most  intricate  caves  of  the  Shephelah  are  those  about 
Beit-Jibrin — that  is,  the  very  district  of  whose  Christianity 
The  Caves  of  ^6  hear  most.  The  yellow  chalk  of  the  ridges 
Beit-jibrin.  ^j^gj-g  jg  gg^gy  |-q  carve,  and  hardens  on  exposure. 
Some  of  the  old  caves,  which  had  probably  been  used  from 
time  immemorial,^  must  have  lately  been  enlarged  as  quarries 
for  the  building  of  Eleutheropolis  ;  others  had  been  used  by 
the  Jews  as  tombs.  But  by  the  Christians  they  were 
greatly  increased.  There  is  in  them,  as  they  now  lie,  no 
such  wealth  of  inscriptions  as  in  the  Roman  catacombs, 
but  that  their  present  form  is  due  to  the  early  Christians 
seems  proved  by  these  facts :  that  the  chambers  have  in 
many  cases  been  run  through  Jewish  tombs  ;  ^  that  almost 
the  only  ornament  is  the  Cross,  and  that  the  only  Moslem 

^  History,  Bk.  viii.,  cf.  Theodoret  iii.  7  ;  Evagrius  i.  21,  etc. 

-  See  p.  231.  3  P.E.F.  Mem.  Judasa,  268. 


Early  Christianity  in  the  Shephelah        243 

inscriptions  yet  discovered  are  very  early  ones  in  the  Cufic 
character.^  A  i^w  notes,  taken  on  the  spot,  will  perhaps 
give  a  vivid  idea  of  the  caves  about  Beit-Jibrin  : — 

'.  .  .  Down  a  steep  grass  gully  to  some  rough  steps — 
evidently  not  the  original  entrance,  but  one  broken  by  the  fall 
of  the  rock — and  so,  lighting  our  candles,  into  a  large  chamber. 
Thence  we  crept,  by  a  passage  as  high  as  my  walking-stick,  to  a 
larger  room,  of  elegant  shape,  with  a  pillar  in  the  centre,  2  ft. 
thick  each  way.  Climbing  to  the  top  of  some  rubbish,  we  found 
a  hole  in  the  wall,  and  passed  through  into  a  great  bell-shaped 
chamber,  round  which  there  descended  a  spiral  staircase  with  a 
balustrade.  We  went  down  to  the  bottom,  50  steps.  Returning, 
half-way  up  we  found  a  door  into  another  series  of  chambers, 
which  we  penetrated  for  about  200  feet ;  they  went  on  further. 
We  came  back  to  the  staircase,  and  passed  by  it  out  of  the  solid 
rock  into  a  narrow  vaulted  passage  choked  with  rubbish,  at  what 
seemed  to  be  the  proper  entrance  to  the  labyrinth.' 

This  describes  but  a  part  of  one  series  of  caves  in  one 
district.  Elsewhere  round  Beit-Jibrin  there  are  other 
series,  in  which  you  may  wander  for  hours  through  cells, 
rooms,  and  pillared  halls  with  staircases  and  long  cor- 
ridors, all  cut  out  of  the  soft  yellow  chalk.  There  is 
almost  no  ornament,  nor  trace  of  ornament  having  been 
removed.  Where  the  walls  are  preserved,  they  have  no 
breaks  in  them  save  niches  for  holding  little  lamps. 
The  low  passages,  along  which  you  have  to  creep, 
suggest  their  origin  in  times  of  terror ;  and  the  natural 
mouths  of  many,  hidden  by  bush,  and  overlooking  all  the 
plain  to  the  sea,  are  splendid  posts  of  observation  for  the 
sentinels  of  hunted  men.  But  the  vaulted  masonry  of 
other  entrances  speaks  of  more  peaceful  days  ;  and  all  the 
chambers  are  dry,  and  in  summer  delightfully  cool.    While, 

^  Robinson  (and  Eli  Smith),  B.R.  ii,     Guerin,^?/^.  ii. 


244   ^^^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

then,  some  of  these  caves  about  Beit-Jibrin  may  have  been 
inhabited,  or  even  first  formed,  during  the  great  persecu- 
tions, the  bulk  of  them  are  probably  due  to  the  monks 
and   hermits  who  came  up  here  from  Egypt. 

Deir-Dubban,  tn    •     i-x    i  i 

Ihe  caves  at  Deir-Dubban,  to  the  north  of 
Beit-Jibrin,  have  also  a  few  crosses,  and  what  look  like 
Cufic  inscriptions  high  up  on  the  walls.  They,  too,  there- 
fore, are  to  be  assigned  to  the  Byzantine  period.^ 

When  the  Christianity  of  the  Shephelah  came  above 

ground  again,  it  built  some  noble  churches.     Close  by  the 

caves  just  described  stands  the  ruin  Sandhanneh, 

The  Churches     ,         -,,  ,         ^    ^ 

of  the  the  Church  of  Sancta  Anna,  mother   of  the 

Virgin.  It  is  the  east  end  of  a  Greek  basilica, 
and  with  the  foundations,  which  can  still  be  traced  for  the 
rest  of  the  building,  implies  a  church  as  great  and  beautiful 
as  the  Basilica  of  Justinian  in  Bethlehem.  It  probably 
dates  from  the  same  age,  when  the  famous  Marcian,  who 
built  the  churches  of  Gaza,  was  bishop  there,  and  his 
brother  was  Bishop  of  Eleutheropolis.^  Byzantine  remains 
have  been  recognised  in  other  parts  of  the  Shephelah,  as 
at  Deir-el-Bedawiyeh,  Deir-el-Botum,  and  Deir-el-Mohallis 
or  Convent  of  the  Saviour.^  Some  of  the  untraceable 
ruins,  which  are  so  thickly  strewn  across  these  hills,  must 
belong  to  the  same  period ;  but  other  ecclesiastical 
remains,  such  as  the  chapel  within  the  citadel  at  Beit- 
Jibrin,  are  French  architecture  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
and  the  scattered  stones  to  the  north  of  Tell  Jezer  are 
also,  we  know,  the  work  of  the  Crusaders.* 

1  Guerin,y«i^.  ii.  105,  106.  "  Stark,  Gaza,  etc.,  p.  625. 

"  Guerin,  Jud.  ii.  27,  97,  98.  ••  See  p.  217. 


CHAPTER     XII 

JUDyEA    AND    SAMARIA— 
THE   HISTORY   OF   THEIR   FRONTIER 


245 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Map  V, 


JUD^A  AND  SAMARIA— THE  HISTORY 
OF  THEIR  FRONTIER 

OVER  the  Shephelah  we  advance  upon  the  Central 
Range.  Our  nearest  goal  is  that  part  of  the  range 
which  is  called  the  Hill-country,  or  Mount,  of  Judah.  But 
it  is  necessary  first  to  look  at  the  range  as  a  whole,  and 
see  how,  and  why,  its  short  extent  was  divided  first  into 
the  two  kingdoms  of  Northern  Israel  and  Judah,  and  then 
into  the  provinces  of  Samaria  and  Judaea. 

We  have  seen  ^  that  a  long,  deep  formation  of  limestone 
extends  all  the  way  from  Lebanon  in  the  north  to  a  line 
of  cliffs  opposite  the  Gulf  and  Canal  of  Suez  in 

.  .       .  The  Central 

the  south.     Of  this  backbone  of  Syria  the  part    Range  south 

1  T-     1        1  1      1        -VT         1      •      1  •  .of  Esdraelon. 

between  Esdraelon  and  the  Ncgeb  is  histori- 
cally the  most  famous.  Those  ninety  miles  of  narrow 
highland  from  Jezreel  to  Beersheba  were  the  chief  theatre 
of  the  history  of  Israel.  As  you  look  from  the  sea  they 
form  a  persistent  mountain  wall  of  nearly  uniform  level, 
rising  clear  and  blue  above  the  low  hills  which  buttress  it 
to  the  west.  The  one  sign  of  a  pass  across  it  is  the  cleft  we 
have  already  noticed,"^  between  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  in  which 
Shechem,  the  natural  capital  of  these  highlands,  lies. 
But  uniform  as  that  persistent  range  appears  from  the 

^  P.  47.  -  P.  1 19- 

247 


248    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

coast,  almost  the  first  thing  you  remember  as  you  look  at 

it    is    the    prolonged    political    and    religious   division    of 

which  it  was  capable — first  into  the  kingdoms 

Its  division. 

of  Northern  Israel  and  Judah,  and  then  mto  the 
provinces  of  Samaria  and  Judaea.  Those  ninety  narrow 
miles  sustained  the  arch-schism  of  history.  Where  did  the 
line  of  this  schism  run  ?  Did  it  correspond  to  any  natural 
division  in  the  range  itself? 

A  closer  observation  shows  that  there  was  a  natural 
boundary  between  northern  and  southern  Israel.  But  its 
ambiguity  is  a  curious  symbol  of  the  uncertain  frontier  of 
their  religious  differences. 

We  have  seen,  first,  that  the  bulk  of  Samaria  consists  of 
scattered  mountain  groups,  while  Judaea  is  a  table-land  ; 
Three  natural  ^^^'  ^^coi^dly,  that  while  the  Samadan  moun- 
frontiers.  tains  descend    continuously  through  the    low 

hills  upon  the  Maritime  Plain,  the  hill-country  of  Judaea 
stands  aloof  from  the  Shephelah  Range,  with  a  well- 
defined  valley  between.^  Now,  these  two  physical  differ- 
ences do  not  coincide  :  the  table-land  of  Judaea  runs  farther 
north  than  its  isolation  from  the  low  hills.  Consequently, 
we  have  an  alternative  of  frontiers.  If  we  take  the  differ- 
ence between  the  relations  of  the  two  provinces  to  the 
Maritime  Plain,  the  natural  boundary  will  be  the  Vale  of 
Ajalon,  which  penetrates  the  Central  Range,  and  a  line 
from  it  across  the  water-parting  to  the  Wady  Suweinit, 
the  deep  gorge  of  Michmash,  which  will  continue  the 
boundary  to  the  Jordan  at  Jericho.  If  we  take  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  scattered  hills  and  the  table-land, 
then  the  natural  boundary  from  the  coast  eastwards  to  the 
Jordan  will  be  the  river  'Aujeh,  the  Wady  Deir  Balut,  the 

^  See  p.  205  f. 


The  History  of  a  Frontier  249 

VVady  Nimr,  a  line  across  the  water-parting  to  the  Wady 
Samieh,  and  so  down  this  and  the  Wady  'Aujeh  to  the 
Jordan,  eight  miles  above  Jericho.^  For  it  is  just  where 
this  line  crosses  the  water-parting,  about  the  Robber's 
Well  on  the  high-road  from  Jerusalem  to  Nablus,  that 
travellers  coming  north  find  the  country  change.  They 
have  descended  from  the  plateau,  and  their  road  onward 
lies  through  valleys  and  plains,  with  ridges  between.  This 
second  natural  border  is  easily  remembered  by  the  fact 
that  it  begins  and  ends  with  streams  of  the  same  name — 
'Aujeh,  '  the  crooked  ' — and  that,  while  the  western  stream 
reaches  the  sea  a  little  above  Joppa,  the  eastern  falls  into 
the  Jordan  a  little  above  Jericho.  Somewhat  farther 
north,  however,  than  this  second  line,  there  is  a  third  and 
even  more  evident  border,  which  leaves  the  Wady  Deir 
Balut  by  the  Wady  Ishar,  and  runs  north-east,  deep  and 
straight  to  'Akrabbeh.  Still  farther  north  there  is  a  fourth 
line,  which  leaves  the  western  'Aujeh  by  the  Wadies  Ishar 
and  Kanah — the  latter  probably  the  Brook  Kanah,  the 
frontier  between  Ephraim  and  Manasseh — but  this  fourth 
line  we  need  not  take  into  our  reckoning. 

Thus  we  have  not  one,  but  three  possible  frontiers 
across  the  range :  south  of  Bethel,  the  line  from  the  head 
of  Ajalon  to  the  gorge  of  Michmash  ;  north  of  Bethel,  the 
change  from  table-land  to  valley,  with  deep  wadies  running 
both  to  Jordan  and  to  the  coast ;  and,  more  northerly 
still,  the  Wady  Ishar.  None  of  these  is  by  any  means  a 
'  scientific  frontier,'  and  their  ambiguity  is  reflected  in  the 
fortunes  of  the  political  border. 

The  political  border  oscillated  among  these  natural 
borders, 

'  Trel.  Saunders,  Introd.  to  Survey  of  W.  Palestine,  p.  229. 


250   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Take  the  most  southerly — the  line  up  the  Wady  Suweinit, 

across  the   plateau   south  of  Bethel,  and    down    Ajalon. 

This  was  a  real  pass  across  the  rans^e.     Not 

Earliest  ^  ^ 

political         only  did  Israel  by  it  first  come  up  from  the 

frontier.  11. 

Jordan  on  to  the  table-land,  and  by  it  sweep 
down  towards  the  sea,  but  it  was  in  all  ages  a  regular  route 
for  trade.^  Its  use,  and  the  close  connection  into  which  it 
brought  the  Maritime  Plain  with  the  Jordan  Valley,  could 
not  be  more  clearly  proved  than  by  the  presence  of  the 
name  Dagon  at  its  eastern  as  well  as  its  western  end.  A 
little  way  north  of  Jericho  there  was,  down  to  the  times  of 
the  Maccabees,  a  fortress  called  by  the  name  of  the  Philis- 
tine god.'^  In  Saul's  days  the  Philistines  were  naturally 
anxious  to  hold  this  route,  and,  invading  Israel  by  Ephraim, 
they  planted  their  garrisons  upon  its  northern  side  at 
Ramallah  ^  and  Michmash,  while  Saul's  forces  faced  them 
from  its  southern  side.*  This  is  the  earliest  appearance  of 
this  natural  border  across  the  Central  Range  in  the  char- 
acter of  a  political  frontier.  The  next  is  a  few  years 
later :  while  David  was  king  only  of  Judah,  his  soldiers 
sat  down  opposite  those  of  Abner  at  Gibeon,-^  on  a  line 
between  Ajalon  and  Michmash.  After  the  disruption  the 
same  line  seems  to  have  been  the  usual  frontier  between 
the  kingdoms  of  Northern  Israel  and  Judah  ;  for  Bethel,*^  to 

^  The  Crusaders  used  it.     See  p.  183. 

^  Josephus,  xiii.  Antt.  viii.  It  is  probably  the  same  as  Docus  (i  Mace. 
xvi.  15),  which  name  is  preserved  in  'Ain  Diik,  to  the  north  of  Jericho. 

^  I  Samuel  x.  5.  The  hill  of  God  is  probably  the  present  Ramallah, 
south-west  of  Bethel. 

^  I  Samuel  xiii.  xiv.  Seneh,  so  called  from  the  thorns  upon  it  (Jos.  vide 
i.  Wars,  ii.  i),  lay  on  the  south  side  of  the  Michmash  gorge.  Bozez,  the 
shining,  for  it  lay  facing  the  south,  was  opposite  to  Seneh  on  the  north. 

*  2  Samuel  ii.  13. 

'^  1  Kings  xii.  29,  2  Kings  x.  29;  Amos  iii.  14,  iv.  4,  vii.  10,  13;  Hoseax.  15. 


The  History  of  a  Frontier  251 

the  north  of  it,  was  a  sanctuary  of  Israel,  and  Geba,  to  the 
south  of  it,  was  considered  as  the  limit  of  Judah.^  But 
though  the  Vale  of  Ajalon  and  the  gorge  of  Michmash 
form  such  a  real  division  down  both  flanks  of  the  plateau, 
the  plateau  itself  between  these  offers  no  real  frontier,  but 
stretches  level  from  Jerusalem  to  the  north  of  Bethel. 
Consequently  we  find  Judah  and  Israel  pushing  each  other 
up  and  down  on  it,  Israel  trying  to  get  footing  south,  and 
Judah  trying  to  get  footing  north,  of  Michmash.  For 
instance,  Baasha,  king  of  Israel,  we7it  up  against  Judah, 
and  built,  or  fortified,  Ramah,  the  present  er-Ram,  four 
miles  north  of  Jerusalem,  that  he  might  not  suffer  any  to  go 
out  or  covie  in  to  Asa,  king  of  fudah  •,^  but,  Asa  having 
paid  the  Syrians  to  invade  Israel  from  the  north, //^/^/  off 
building  RaviaJi,  and  Asa  made  a  levy  throughout  Judah, 
and  they  took  atvay  the  stones  and  timber  of  Ramah  ivhcrewith 
Baasha  had  builded,  and  King  Asa  built,  ox  fortified,  zvith 
them  Geba  of  Benjamin  and  MizpeJi?  And  conversely  to 
Baasha's  attempt  on  Ramah  we  find  the  kings  of  Judah 
making  attempts  on  Bethel.  Soon  after  the  disruption, 
Abijah  won  it  for  Judah,^  but  it  must  have  quickly  reverted 
to  the  north.  Similarly  to  the  Bethel  plateau,  the  Jordan 
valley  offered  no  real  frontier  between  Judah  and  Northern 
Israel,  and  consequently  we  find  Jericho,  though  a  Judaean 
city,  in  possession  of  the  northerners.^  On  the  west.  North- 
ern Israel  did  not  come  south  of  the  Vale  of  Ajalon,  for  in 
that  direction  the  Philistines  were  still  strong.^ 

^  The  formula, //-t?;«  Z>a«  to  Beersheba,  which  meant  united  Israel,  seems 
to  have  been  replaced  by  the  formula,  from  Geba  to  Beersheba  (2  Kings 
xxiii.  8  ;  cf.  I  Kings  xv.  22). 

"  I  Kings  XV.  17.  ^  Ibid.  21,  22. 

*  2  Chronicles  xiii.  19.  °  i  Kings  xvi.  34,  2  Kings  ii.  4  fF. 

"  I  Kings  xvi.  15  ff.,  where  we  find  Gibbethon,  on  the  borders  of  Ephraim, 
to  the  north  of  Ajalon,  in  Philistine  possession. 


252    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

When  the  kingdom  of  Northern  Israel  fell,  Jericho  and 

Bethel  both  reverted  to  Judah  ;  but  Bethel  was  a  tainted 

place,  and  Josiah  destroyed  it,^  and  still  in  his 

The  Frontier       .  /->    1 

from  721  B.C.  time  Geba  was  the  formal  limit  of  Judah." 
Only  formal,  however,  for  Bethel  and  other 
villages  to  the  north  must  have  been  rebuilt  and  occupied 
by  Jews.  Men  of  Bethel  returned  in  Zerubbabel's  com- 
pany from  exile  along  with  men  of  Ai,  Michmash,  Gibeon, 
Anathoth,  Azmaveth,  Beeroth,-  Ramah,  and  Geba,^  on 
the  plateau ;  Lydda,  Hadid,  and  Ono  in  Ajalon  ;  and 
Jericho  and  Senaah  *  in  the  Jordan  Valley.  All  these  are 
either  upon  or  south  of  the  line  from  Michmash  to  Ajalon, 
except  Bethel,  which  is  a  little  to  the  north.  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  Beth-horon,  which  was  also  on  the  line,  but 
belonged  to  Ephraim,^  is  not  mentioned  among  them. 
All  this  proves  that,  after  the  northern  kingdom  fell,  Judah 
had  only  slightly  pushed  her  frontier  northwards.  She  got 
Jericho  back,  and  a  little  place  to  the  north  of  it,  and 
Bethel,  but  she  did  not  get  Beth-horon. 

Except,  then,  for  the  northward  bulge  at  Bethel,  the 
political  frontier  between  Judah  and  Israel  was  down 
to  the  Exile  the  most  southerly  of  the  three  natural 
borders. 

During  the  Exile  the  Samaritans  must  have  flowed 
south  into  the  vacant  or  weakened  Jewish  cities,  but  the 
only  evidence  we  have  of  this  concerns  Lod,  or  Lydda, 
and  its  neighbourhood.  Long  after  Lod's  reoccupation 
by  the  Jews,  the  district  was  still  nominally  a  Samaritan 


^  2  Kings  xxiii.  4,  15.  2  /^/^  g^ 

'  Ezra  ii.  20  ff.,  Neh.  vii.  25  ff. 

*  Probably  five  miles  north  of  Jericho  ;  cf.  Onom.,  Megdalsenna. 
^  Joshua  xvi.  3,  5,  xxi.  22. 


The  History  of  a  Frontier  253 

toparchy.^  When  the  Jews  returned  they  found  the  frontier 
obliterated;  their  countrymen  who  had  not  gone  into  exile 
were  fallen  into  idolatrous  practices,  and  the  ^fterthe 
Samaritans  came  up  to  Jerusalem  itself  and  ^'"'^• 
offered  to  join  them  in  building  the  Temple.  The  offer  was 
rejected;  but  after  the  Temple  was  finished  in  516,  the 
Jewish  cxclusiveness  gave  way,  and  such  intercourse  was 
held  with  the  Samaritans,  by  marriage  and  other  relations, 
as  must  have  scattered  many  Jews  northwards  across  the 
old  frontier.2  Then  under  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  (460-432), 
when  the  Samaritans  were  again  excluded,  they  seem  to 
have  overthrown  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  at  the  rebuild- 
ing of  these  they  appeared  in  force.^  All  this  time  it  is 
evident  there  was  no  real  frontier  north  of  Jerusalem. 
Soon  after,  as  Nehemiah  intimates,  the  Jews  were  again 
settled  in  the  frontier  towns  of  Geba,  Michmash,  Aija, 
Beth-el,  Ramah,  and  down  Ajalon  in  Hadid,  Lydda,  and 
Ono,  and  even  at  Neballat,  to  the  north-west  of  Lj-dda.* 

1  Lydda  was  a  Samaritan  j-oytiis  up  to  the  time  of  Jonathan  Maccabeus 
(about  145  B.C.),  I  Mace,  xi,  34,  Josephus  xiii.  A}itt.  iv.  9.  Another  proof 
that  the  neighbourhood  of  Lydda  is  Samaritan  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
Sanballat  asks  Nehemiah  to  meet  him  there  (Neh.  vi.  2). 

-  Ezra  ix.  2 ;  Neh.  xiii.  23  ff. ,  especially  28. 

^  Neh.  iv.  2,  either  in  the  Massoretic  or  the  LXX.  reading,  which  latter, 
to  my  mind,  makes  the  better  sense  :  Is  this  the  power  of  Samaria,  that 
these  Jews  can  build  their  city  ?  But  see  Ryle,  in  loco  ( Cainb.  Bible  for 
Schools) ;  he  thinks  LXX.  fails  to  throw  any  light. 

^  Neh.  xi.  31-36.  The  other  towns  north  of  Jerusalem  which  are  men- 
tioned are  Anathoth,  Nob,  Ananiah  (Beit  Hanina),  Hazor  (Hazzur),  all 
near  Jerusalem  ;  Gittaim  and  Zeboim,  unknown.  Schlatter  {Ziir  Topog. 
u.  Gesch.  Paldstifias,  53)  has  tried  to  prove  that  this  list  refers  to  pre- 
exilic  times,  and  is  out  of  date  in  Nehemiah.  He  holds  Neh.  xi.  is 
taken  from  I  Chron.  ix. ,  which  belongs  to  the  Books  of  the  Kings  of 
Judah.  But,  in  consistency  with  his  usual  method  of  special  pleading, 
he  omits  to  say  that  the  very  verses  he  is  dealing  with  in  Neh.  xi. ,  viz. 
25  ff.,  do  not  appear  in  the  document  on  i  Chron.  ix. ,  which  invalidates  his 
whole  argument.     There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  Neh.  xi.  25  ff.  is  not 


2  54    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

As  before  the  Exile,  Beth-horon  is  not  mentioned  among 
the  Jewish  towns  ;  and  Sanballat,  the  Samaritan,  is  called 
the  Horonite.^  For  one  hundred  and  sixty  years  we  hear 
no  more  of  the  frontier,  except  that  in  a  time  of  the  Jews' 
distress  the  Samaritans  cut  off  their  lands  ;  -  and  then 
under  Judas  Maccabeus  Beth-horon  is  suddenly  mentioned 
as  a  town  of  Judaea.^  Proofs  multiply  that  since  Nehemiah's 
time  the  Jews  were  pushing  steadily  northwards.  In  i6i 
B.C.,  Beth-horon,  Bethel,  and  even  Timnath  Pharatho,  in 
Under  the  ^^^  interior  of  the  old  Samarian  territory,'^ 
Maccabees.  ^^^  described  as  cities  of  Judsea.^  By  145  the 
Jews  demand  from  the  Syrian  king  the  transference  of  the 
Samaritan  toparchies,  Apharema,  Lydda,  and  Ramathaim, 
to  Judsea.*'  Lydda  we  know,  Apharema  is  the  city  of 
Ephraim,  five  miles  north-east  of  Bethel ;  the  exact  site  of 
Ramathaim  is  doubtful,  but  it  also  lay  within  Mount 
Ephraim.''  Taken  along  with  the  capture  of  Joppa,  which 
happened  about  the  same  time,  this  addition  of  Samarian 

authentic  ;  while  the  Jewish  occupation  of  at  least  Lod  and  Ono  is  put  past 
all  doubt  by  their  later  history.  None  of  those  who  helped  Nehemiah  in 
building  the  walls  came  from  the  north  of  Gibeon,  Meronoth  (?),  Mizpeh 
(Neh.  iii.). 

1  Schlatter  [op.  cit.  4,  War  Beth-horon  der  Wohnort  Sanballafs  ?)  seeks  to 
prove,  but  without  success,  that  Sanballat  was  neither  a  Samaritan  nor  of 
Beth-horon. 

"  Josephus  xii.  Antt.  iv.  i. 

^  Id.  vii.  I.  That  this  is  not  an  anachronism  on  Josephus'  part  is  seen  from 
xiii.  Antt.  i.  3. 

''  On  any  theory  as  to  its  site,  see  p.  355. 

^  I  Mace.  ix.  50  ;  Josephus  xiii.  Antt.  i.  3. 

^  I  Mace.  xi.  28,  34  ;  Josephus  xiii.  Antt.  iv.  9. 

"^  On  the  city  of  Ephraim,  see  p.  352.  Ramathaim,  ^VafxaBeix,  is  doubt- 
less the  Ramathaim  or  Ramah  which  was  Samuel's  city  in  Mount  Ephraim 
(i  Samuel  i.  i  ;  other  passages  in  which  it  is  mentioned  in  I  Samuel  throw 
no  light  on  its  position).  It  has  been  identified  with  Beit-Rima,  thirteen 
miles  north-east  of  Lydda,  which  agrees  with  the  description  in  the  Onomasticon, 
art,  'Apixade/j.  2et0d,  where  it  is  identified  with  the  Arimathea  of  Joseph. 


The  History  of  a  Frontier  255 

territory  shifted  the  frontier  of  Judaea  to  the  Hne  of  the 
'Aujeh  and  Wady  Deir  BaHut,  or  the  second  of  the  three 
natural  borders.^  John  Hyrcanus  (135-105)  overran 
Samaria  ;  in  64  Pompey  separated  it  again  ;-  in  30  it  fell 
to  Herod  the  Great  ;  in  6  A.D.  it  was  taken  with  Judaea 
from  Archelaus,  and  put  under  a  Roman  procurator.^  In 
41  Claudius  gave  it,  with  Judaea,  to  Agrippa.  During  all 
that  time,  therefore,  there  was  no  real  political  under  the 
frontier  between  Judaea  and  Samaria.  The  R°'nans. 
great  religious  difference,  however,  kept  them  apart  as 
much  as  ever,  and  the  necessity  which  was  felt  by  the 
scrupulous  Judaism  of  the  time  to  distinguish  heathen 
from  holy  soil  ensured  a  strict  drawing  of  their  frontier. 
Josephus^  puts  the  boundary  at  the  Acrabbene  toparchy, 
and  again  at  the  '  village  Anuath,  which  is  also  named 
Borkeos,'  and  the  English  Survey  have  identified  these 
with  Burkit  and  Akrabbeh.^  This  gives  the  frontier  along 
the  most  northerly  of  the  natural  borders,  the  Wady  Ishar. 
On  the  Maritime  Plain  the  Jewish  Judaea  ceased  at  the 
'Aujeh,G  though,  of  course,  the  Roman  province  of  Judaea 
covered  the  plain  to  the  north  of  that,  as  it  covered 
Samaria,  and  indeed  had  its  chief  town  there  in  Caesarea. 
On  the  eastern  side,  again,  the  border  between  Samaria 


^  Unless  it  was  that  Timnath  Pharalho  was  really  Judxan,  and  lay  at  the 
head  of  the  Wady  Farah  ;  in  that  case  the  frontier  was  already  at  the  most 
northerly  of  the  three  borders. 

^  Josephus,  xiv.  Antt.  iii.  4,  speaks  of  Pompey's  arrival  at  Corea,  '  which 
is  the  first  entrance  to  Judsea  when  one  passes  over  the  midland  countries  ; ' 
but  it  is  uncertain  whether  Josephus  speaks  of  his  own  or  Pompey's  time,  nor 
are  we  sure  where  Corea  was.     See  p.  353. 

^  Samaritans  were  enrolled  in  the  Roman  forces,  and  probably  formed 
part  of  the  garrison  in  Jerusalem.  See  Schiirer,  Jewish  People  in  the  Time 
of  Christ,  i.  ii.  p.  51. 

•»  iii.  Wars,  iii.  4,  5.  •'  P.E.F.Q.  1881,  p.  48.  «  Talmud, 


256   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  Judaea  probably  ran  down  the  Wady  Farah  to  the 
Jordan,  just  north  of  Kurn  Surtabeh.^  The  northern 
boundary  of  Samaria  was  the  edge  of  Esdraelon. 

These  were  practically  the  limits  of  Samaria  during  our 
Lord's  ministry.  Samaria  extended  from  the  edge  of 
In  the  time  Esdraelon  to  the  Wady  Ishar  and  Wady  Farah, 
of  Christ.  ^j^^  fj.Qj^  ^j^g  Jordan  to  the  edge  of  the  Maritime 
Plain,  where  it  touched  heathen  territory.  To  go  through 
Samaria,  therefore,  our  Lord  and  His  disciples  had  only 
some  twenty-three  miles  to  cover  ;  -  while  if  they  wished  to 
avoid  Samaria  and  all  other  unclean  soil  in  passing  from 
Galilee  to  Judaea,  they  had  to  cross  the  Jordan  north  of 
Bethshan,  come  down  through  the  hot  Jordan  valley,  and 
recross  by  one  of  the  fords  at  the  Wady  Farah,  or  between 
this  and  Jericho.^  The  city  of  Ephraim,  to  which  our  Lord 
retired,  was,  and  had  been  since  the  times  of  Jonathan 
Maccabeus,  a  city  of  Judsea.'* 

^  Conder,  Handbook,  310,  311.  Talmud  (Bab.  Guittin,  76a)  counts 
all  heathen  soil  between  Kefr  Outheni,  on  the  edge  of  Esdraelon,  and 
Antipatris. 

"  That  is,  by  the  present  highroad  from  the  Wady  Ishar,  past  Sychar  tc 
Jenin  or  Engannim  ;  cf.  Luke  ix.,  John  iv.  See  also  Josephus,  xx.  Anit 
vi.  I,  for  a  quarrel  between  Galilean  pilgrims  and  Samaritans. 

3  Cf.  Mark  x,  ■*  John  xi.  54. 


C  H  A  P  T  E  R    X 1 1 1 
THE   BORDERS  AND   BULWARKS   OF  JUD^A 


For  this   Chapter  cons^ilt  Maps  I.  and  IV. 


THE  BORDERS  AND  BULWARKS  OF  JUD^A 

WE  now  reach  the  stronghold  and  sanctuary  of  the 
land,  Judaea,  physically  the  most  barren  and  awk- 
ward, morally  the  most  potential  and  famous  -pj^^  seclusion 
of  all  the  provinces  of  Syria.  Like  her  annual  of  Judcea. 
harvests,  the  historical  forces  of  Judaea  have  always  ripened 
a  little  later  than  those  of  Samaria.  She  had  no  part  in 
Israel's  earliest  struggles  for  unity  and  freedom — indeed, 
in  the  record  of  these  she  is  named  only  as  a  traitor  ^ — nor 
did  the  beginnings  either  of  the  kinghood  or  of  prophecy 
spring  from  her.  Yet  the  gifts  which  her  older  sister's 
more  open  hands  were  the  first  to  catch — and  lose,  were 
by  her  redeemed,  nourished  and  consummated.  For  this 
more  slow  and  stubborn  function  Judaea  was  prepared  by 
her  isolated  and  unattractive  position,  which  kept  her  for  a 
longer  time  than  her  sister  out  of  the  world's  regard,  and, 
when  the  world  came,  enabled  her  to  offer  a  more  hardy 
defence.  Hence,  too,  sprang  the  defects  of  her  virtues — 
her  selfishness,  provincialism  and  bigotry.  With  a  few 
exceptions,  due  to  the  genius  of  some  of  her  sons,  who 
were  inspired  beyond  all  other  Israelites,  Judrea's  character 
and  history  may  be  summed  up  in  a  sentence.  At  all 
times  in  which  the  powers  of  spiritual  initiative  or  ex- 
pansion were  needed,  she  was  lacking,  and  so  in  the  end 

'  Deborah's  Song  does  not  mention  Judah.     It  was  men  of  Judah  who 
betrayed  Samson  to  the  Philistines. 


26o   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

came  her  shame.  But  when  the  times  required  concentra- 
tion, indifference  to  the  world,  loyalty  to  the  past,  and  pas- 
sionate patriotism,  then  Judsea  took  the  lead,  or  stood  alone 
in  Israel,  and  these  virtues  even  rendered  brilliant  the 
hopeless,  insane  struggles  of  her  end.  Judaea  was  the  seat 
of  the  one  enduring  dynasty  of  Israel,  the  site  of  their 
temple,  the  platform  of  all  their  chief  prophets.  After  their 
great  Exile  they  rallied  round  her  capital,  and  centuries 
later  they  expended  upon  her  fortresses  the  last  efforts  of 
their  freedom.  From  the  day  when  the  land  was  taken 
in  pledge  by  the  dust  of  the  patriarchs,  till  the  remnant  of 
the  garrison  of  Jerusalem  slaughtered  themselves  out  at 
Masada,  rather  than  fall  into  Roman  hands,  or  till  at 
Bether  the  very  last  revolt  was  crushed  by  Hadrian,  Judaea 
was  the  birthplace,  the  stronghold,  the  sepulchre  of  God's 
people.  It  is,  therefore,  not  wonderful  that  they  should 
have  won  from  it  the  name  which  is  now  more  frequent 
than  either  their  ancestral  designation  of  Hebrews  or  their 
sacred  title  of  Israel. 

For  us  Christians  it  is  enough  to  remember,  besides,  that 
Judaea  contains  the  places  of  our  Lord's  Birth  and  Death, 
with  the  scenes  of  His  Temptation,  His  more  painful 
Ministry,  and  His  Agony. 

Judaea  is  very  small.  Even  when  you  extend  the  sur- 
face to  the  promised  border  at  the  sea,  and  include  all  of  it 
that  is  desert,  it  does  not  amount  to  more  than 

Her  smallness.  .,  .1  •  r  r 

2000  square  miles,  or  the  size  oi  one  oi  our 
average  counties.^  But  Judaea,  in  the  days  of  its  indepen- 
dence, never  covered  the  whole  Maritime  Plain  ;  and  even 

^  Aberdeenshire  is  1955  square  miles;  Perth,  2528;  Cumberland,  1516  ; 
Northumberland,  2015  ;  Norfolk,  2017  ;  Essex,  1413  ;  Kent,  1515  ;  Somerset, 
1659  ;  and  Devon,  2015. 


The  Borders  and  Bulwarks  ofjudcra       26 1 

the  Shephelah,  as  we  have  seen,  was  frequently  beyond  it. 
Apart  from  Shephelah  and  Plain,  Judaea  was  a  region 
55  miles  long,  from  Bethel  to  Beersheba,  and  from  25  to 
30  broad,  or  about  1350  square  miles,  of  which  nearly  the 
half  was  desert. 

It  ought  not  to  be  difficult  to  convey  an  adequate  im- 
pression of  so  small  and  so  separate  a  province.  The 
centre  is  a  high  and  broken  table-land  from  two  to  three 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  perhaps  thirty-five  miles  long 
by  twelve  to  seventeen  broad.^  You  will  almost  cover  it 
by  one  sweep  of  the  eye.  But  surrounding  this  centre 
are  borders  and  bulwarks  of  extraordinary  ^^^ 
variety  and  intricacy  ;  and  as  it  is  they  which  borders. 
have  so  largely  made  the  history  of  the  land  and  the 
culture  of  its  inhabitants,  it  will  be  better  for  us  to  survey 
them,  before  we  come  to  the  little  featureless  plateau, 
which  they  so  lift  and  isolate  from  the  rest  of  the  world. 
We  begin  with  the  most  important  of  them — the  Eastern, 

I.  East. — The  Great  Gulf  with  Jericho  and 
Engedi.    The  Entrance  of  Israel. 

You  cannot  live  in  Judxa  without  being  daily  aware  of 
the  presence  of  the  awful  deep  which  bounds  it  on  the 
east — the  lower  Jordan  Valley  and  Dead  Sea.  jj^^  j^^^^^  g^,^ 
From  Bethel,  from  Jerusalem,  from  Bethlehem,  Vaiiey. 
from  Tekoa,  from  the  heights  above  Hebron,  and  from 
fifty  points  between,  you  look  down  into  that  deep  :  and 

^  From  the  centre  of  the  Wady  Ali  to  the  eastern  base  of  the  Mount  of 
Olives  (1520  feet  above  the  sea)  is  fourteen  miles.  From  the  Wady  en  Najil 
on  the  Shephelah  border  to  the  descent  from  the  plateau  east  of  Mar  Saba  is 
about  seventeen  miles  ;  and  a  line  across  Hebron  from  edge  to  edge  of  the 
plateau  gives  about  fourteen  miles. 


262    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

you  feel  Judaea  rising  from  it  about  you  almost  as  a  sailor 
feels  his  narrow  deck  or  a  sentinel  the  sharp-edged  platform 
of  his  high  fortress.  From  the  hard  limestone  of  the  range 
on  which  you  stand,  the  land  sinks  swiftly  and,  as  it  seems, 
shuddering  through  softer  formations,  desert  and  chaotic, 
to  a  depth  of  which  you  cannot  see  the  bottom — but  you 
know  that  it  falls  far  below  the  level  of  the  ocean — to  the 
coasts  of  a  bitter  sea.  Across  this  emptiness  rise  the  hills 
of  Moab,  high  and  precipitous,  and  it  is  their  bare  edge, 
almost  unbroken,  and  with  nothing  visible  beyond  save  a 
castle  or  a  crag,  which  forms  the  eastern  horizon  of  Judsea. 
The  simple  name  by  which  that  horizon  was  known  to  the 
Jews — The  Mountains  of  the  Other-side,  or  the  Mountains 
of  Those-Across  ^ — is  more  expressive  than  anything  else 
could  be  of  the  great  vacancy  between.  The  depth,  the 
haggard  desert  through  which  the  land  sinks  into  it,  the 
singularity  of  that  gulf  and  its  prisoned  sea,  and  the  high 
barrier  beyond,  conspire  to  produce  on  the  inhabitants  of 
Judaea  a  moral  effect  such  as,  I  suppose,  is  created  by  no 
other  frontier  in  the  world. 

It  was  only,  however,  when  we  had  crossed  into  Moab  that 

we  fully  appreciated  the  significance  of  that  frontier  in  the 

history  of  God's  separated  people.     The  table- 

Juda?a  and 

Moab— a  land  to  the  east  of  the  Dead  Sea  is  about  the 
same  height  as  the  table-land  of  Judsea  to  the 
west,  and  is  of  almost  exactly  the  same  physical  formation. 
On  both  of  them  are  landscapes  from  which  it  would  be 
impossible  for  you  to  gather  whether  you  were  in  Judaea 
or  in  Moab — impossible  but  for  one  thing,  the  feeling  of 
what  you  have  to  the  east  of  you.  To  the  east  of  Judaea 
there  is  that  great  gulf  fixed.     But  Moab  to  the  east  rolls 

^  D''i3y  "'"in  or  in- 


The  Borders  and  Bulzc arks  of  Jti-dcEa       263 

off  imperceptibly  to  ^Arabia  :  a  few  low  hills,  and  no  river 
or  valley,  are  all  that  lies  between  her  pastures  and  the 
great  deserts,  out  of  which,  in  every  age,  wild  and  hungry 
tribes  have  been  ready  to  swarm.  Moab  is  open  to  the 
east ;  Judah,  or  Judaia,  with  the  same  formation,  and  im- 
posing the  same  habits  of  life  on  a  kindred  stock  of  men, 
has  a  great  gulf  between  herself  and  the  east.  In  this  fact 
lies  a  very  large  part  of  the  reason  why  she  was  chosen  as 
the  home  of  God's  peculiar  people. 

The  Wilderness  of  Judaea,  which  is  piled  up  from  the 
beach  of  the  Dead  Sea  to  the  very  edge  of  the  Central 
Plateau,  may  be  reserved  for  later  treatment. 

Passes  through 

Here   it   is   only   needful   to   ask    what  passes  the  wilderness 

11-  r    ^  °f  Judaea. 

break  up  through  it  to  the  centre  of  the  pro- 
vince ?  The  answer  is,  that  passes,  strictly  so  called,  do 
not  exist.  There  are  many  gorges  torn  by  winter  torrents 
— between  Jericho  and  Jebel  Usdum  at  the  south  end  of 
the  Dead  Sea  there  cannot  be  fewer  than  twenty — but  all 
are  too  narrow  and  crooked  to  carry  roads.  Of  real  gate- 
ways and  roads  into  Judaea  there  are  on  this  border  only 
five  :  and  these  are  obviously  determined  not  by  lines 
of  valley,  but  by  another  feature  which  in  this  region  is  far 
more  indispensable  to  roads.  That  is  the  presence  of  an 
oasis.  The  roads  from  the  east  into  Judaea  have  to  cross, 
for  from  five  to  eight  hours,  a  waterless  desert ;  it  is  neces- 
sary, therefore,  that  they  start  from  the  few  well-watered 
spots  on  its  eastern  edge.  There  are  practically  only 
three  of  these  :  Jericho,  'Ain  Feshkah,  some  ten  miles 
south,  and  'Ain  Jidi,  or  Engedi,  eighteen  miles  further. 
From  Jericho  there  start  into  Judaea  three  roads,  from 
*Ain  Feshkah  one,  and  from  Engedi  one. 

The  roads  from  Jericho — north-west  to  Ai  and  Bethel, 


264    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

south-west  to  Jerusalem,  and  south-south-west  to  the  Lower 
Kedron  and  Bethlehem — do  not  keep  to  any  line  of  valley  ; 
Roads  up  ^°^''  ^^  ^^^  been  said,  this  flank  of  Judaea  is 
from  Jericho,  j,^^-  only  by  deep  gorges,  but  for  the  most  part 
they  follow  the  ridges  between  the  latter.  The  most 
northerly  of  these  three  routes  into  Judaea  ^  ascends  behind 
Jericho  to  the  ridge  north  of  the  Kelt,  follows  it  to  Mich- 
mash,  and  so  by  Ai  to  Bethel.  This  is  evidently  an  ancient 
road,  and  was  probably  the  trade  route  between  the  Lower 
Jordan  and  the  coast,  both  in  ancient  and  mediaeval  times.^ 
It  is  the  line  of  Israel's  first  invasion,  described  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  chapters  of  Joshua  ;  and  its  fitness  for 
that  is  obvious,  for  it  is  open,  and  leads  on  to  a  broad 
plateau  in  the  centre  of  the  country.  The  middle  route  of 
the  three  is  now  the  ordinary  road  from  Jerusalem  to 
Jericho.  It  is  impossible  to  think  that  an  invading  army 
fearing  opposition  ever  attempted  its  higher  end.^  But  it 
is  the  shortest  road  from  Jericho  to  Jerusalem,  and  there- 
fore the  usual  pilgrim  route  in  both  directions.  Pereans 
and  Galileans  came  up  to  the  Temple  by  it :  it  was  the  path 
of  our  Lord  and  His  disciples,  when  He  set  His  face  stead- 
fxstly  towards  Jerusalem  ;  and  from  then  till  now  it  has 
been  trodden  in  the  opposite  direction  by  pilgrims  from  all 
lands  to  the  scene  of  His  baptism.  When  taken  upwards, 
a  more  hot  and  heavy  way  it  is  impossible  to  conceive — 
between  blistered  limestone  rocks,  and  in  front  the  bare 
hills  piled  high,  without  shadow  or  verdure.     There  is  no 

^  jNlore  northerly  still  a  road  goes  up  from  Jericho  by  the  first  pass  into  the 
more  open  Mount  Ephraim.  Its  course  is  marked  by  Roman  pavement  past 
'Ain  ed  Dtik,  round  Umm  Sirah,  and  up  the  Wady  Taiyibeh  to  et  Taiyibeh,  the 
Biblical  city  of  Ephraim.     See  p.  352.  "  See  p.  177. 

"  Pompey  may  have  come  this  way,  but  more  probably  approached  Jeru- 
salem from  the  north  :  Josephus,  xiv.  Antt.  iv.  i . 


The  Borders  and  Bulwarks  of  Jtidcva       265 


water  from  Jericho  till  you  reach  the  roots  of  the  Mount  of 
Oliv^es.^  Curious  red  streaks  appear  from  time  to  time  on 
the  stone,  and  perhaps  account  for  the  sanguinary  names 
which  attach  to  the  road — the  present  Red  Khan,  the 
Chastel  Rouge  of  the  Crusaders,  and  the  Tala'at  ed  Dumm 
or  Ascent  of  Blood  - — but  the  crimes  committed  here  make 
these  doubly  deserved.  The  surrounding  Arabs  have 
always  found  the  pilgrims  a  profitable  prey.  The  third 
road  '■  from  Jericho  leaves  the  'Arabah  about  five  miles 
south  of  Jericho,  and,  coming  up  by  El  Muntar,  crosses  the 
Kedron  near  Mar  Saba.  Thence  one  branch  strikes  north- 
west to  Jerusalem,  and  another  south-west  to  Bethlehem  ; 
before  they  separate  they  are  joined  by  a  road  from  'Ain 
Feshkah,  the  large  oasis  ten  miles  south  of  ^^^^  j-,.q,^^ 
Jericho,  on  the  Dead  Sea  coast.  We  are  not  cer-  '^'"  f"eshkaii. 
tain  of  any  invasion  of  Judaea  by  these  avenues,  unless  Judah 
and  Simeon  went  up  by  one  of  them  at  the  first  occupation 
of  the  land.'*  But  one  or  other  was  undoubtedly  the  road  by 
which  Naomi  brought  Ruth,  and  down  which  David  took 
his  family  to  the  King  of  Moab."'  This  double  connection 
of  Bethlehem  with  Moab  comes  back  to  you  as  you  ride 
along  these  roads  with  the  cliffs  of  Moab  in  sight.  Moab 
is  visible  from  Bethlehem  :  when  Ruth  lifted  her  eyes  from 

^   'Ain  Ilaiul  or  'Ain  Shems,  the  Enslieniesh  of  Josh.  xv.  7. 

^  Khan  el  Ahmar,  one  of  the  sites  for  the  Inn  of  the  Good  Samaritan 
(.St.  Luke  X.  34).  Tala'at  ed  Dumm  is  applied  to  a  hill  and  fortress  north-east 
of  the  Khan,  and  to  the  wady  which  the  road  pursues  thence  towards  Jericho. 
It  is  doubtless  the  ancient  Ma'aleh  Adummim  (Josh.  xv.  7,  xviii.  17)  on 
the  border  between  Judah  and  Benjamin.  The  fortress  was  the  Crusaders' 
Chastel  Rouge  (Murray's  Guide  wrongly  Tour  Rouge,  which  stood  near 
Cajsarea),  or  Citerne  Rouge,  built  by  the  Templars  for  the  succour  of  pilgrims, 
and  also  called  la  Tour  Maledoin.     Rey,  Colonies  Franqttes,  387. 

•'  There  is  really  a  fourth  between  our  second  and  third,  which  passes  the 
Mohammedan  place  of  pilgrimage,  Neby  Musa. 

••  Judges  i.  3  ff.  ■'  I  .Sam.  xxii.  3,  4. 


2  66    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

gleaning  in  the  fields  of  Boaz,  she  saw  her  native  land  over 
against  her. 

These  roads  then  debouch  from  the  Judaean  hills,  and 
join  at  a  little  distance  above  the  end  of  the  Dead  Sea. 

Fords  of      Opposite   their   junction   two   fords    cross    the 

Jordan.  Jordan/  which  are  by  no  means  so  easy  as  the 
numerous  fords  opposite  Mount  Ephraim,  yet  are  passable 
for  most  of  the  year,  and  on  the  other  side  meet  highways 
from  Gilead  and  Moab.  A  road  also  comes  down  the 
'Arabah  on  the  west  of  Jordan,  and  another  from  Mount 
Ephraim  by  'Ain  ed  Duk. 

Follow  these  roads,  passes,  and  fords  to  where  they  meet 

at  the  foot  of  the  Judaean  hills ;  observe  the  streams  breaking 

from  the  hill-foot  at  their  junction,  and  render- 

Jericho.  .  ...  _^, 

mg  possible  an  elaborate  irrigation.  Then, 
where  now  but  a  few  hovels  and  a  tower  on  the  edge  of  a 
swamp  mock  your  imagination,  you  will  see  a  strong  and 
stately  city  rise  in  the  midst  of  a  wonderful  fertility  of 
grove  and  garden.  Jericho  was  the  gateway  of  a  province, 
the  emporium  of  a  large  trade,  the  mistress  of  a  great  palm 
forest,  woods  of  balsam,  and  very  rich  gardens.  To  earliest 
Israel  she  was  the  City  of  Palms  ;  '^  to  the  latest  Jewish 
historian  '  a  divine  region,'  *  fattest  of  Judaea.'  ^  Greeks 
and  Romans  spread  her  fame,  with  her  dates  and  balsam, 
all  over  the  world,  and  great  revenue  was  derived  from 
her.'*     Her  year  is  one  long  summer  ;  she  can  soak  herself 

^  The  Makhadet  el  Hajlah  (near  El  Hajlah,  the  ancient  Beth-hoglah, 
Josh.  XV.  6,  xviii.  19,  21)  and  the  Makh.  el  Henu. 

2  Deut.  xxxiv.  3  ;  Judges  i.  16,  iii.  1352  Chron.  xxviii.  15. 

^  Josephus,  iv.  Wars,  viii.  3  ;  i.  Wars,  vi.  6.  Cf.  iv.  Antt.  vi.  i  ;  xiv.  Antt. 
iv.  I  ;  XV.  Antt.  iv.  2  ;  i.  Wars,  xviii.  5. 

*  Strabo,  xvi.  2.  41.  According  to  this,  the  palm  forest  was  a  hundred 
stadia.  Diod.  Siculus,  ii.  48.  9  ;  cf.  xix.  98.  4.  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  xiii.  4,  who 
says  that  the  finest  dates  are  those  of  Jericho,  and  notes  that  they  are  grown 


The  Borders  and  Bulwarks  of  Judaea        267 

in  water,  and  the  chemicals  with  which  her  soil  is  charged 
seem  to  favour  her  peculiar  products.  Like  Bethshan,  she 
can  make  a  swamp  about  her  ;  five  miles  in  front  is  a  river, 
which,  if  she  oppose,  cannot  be  crossed  ;  and  immediately 
behind  are  her  own  hills,  with  half  a  dozen  possible  citadels. 
Jericho  is  thus  a  city  surrounded  by  resources.  jj^^ 
Yet  in  war  she  has  always  been  easily  taken,  ^^eakness. 
That  her  walls  fell  down  at  the  sound  of  Joshua's  trumpets 

in  salt  soil.  Other  Greek  and  Latin  writers  mention  Jericho  and  its  fruits; 
cf.  Horace,  Epistles,  ii.  2.  184  :  '  llerodis  palmetis  pinguibus.'  Mark  Antony 
had  given  the  region  to  Cleopatra,  and  Herod  farmed  it  of  her  (xv.  Antt.  iv.  2  ; 
i.  Wars,  xviii.  5);  but  in  30  B.C.,  by  gift  of  Augustus,  he  got  it  to  himself 
(xv.  Antt.  vii.  3  ;  i.  Wars,  xx.  3).  He  built  there  a  palace,  which  Archelaus 
rebuilt,  baths  and  theatres.  He  fortified  a  citadel  on  the  hill  behind  the  city, 
and  called  it  Kypros,  after  his  mother  (xvi.  Antt.  v.  2  ;  i.  Wars,  xxi.  4,  9 ; 
ii.  Wars,  xviii.  6).  It  is  probably  the  present  ruin  Beit-Gubr  or  Qubr.  Herod 
lived  much  and  died  in  Jericho.  In  our  Lord's  time,  Jericho  was  directly 
under  the  Romans,  who  farmed  its  revenues.  See  Pressel's  Priscilla  an 
Sabuia,  a  book  in  the  form  of  letters  from  a  Roman  lady  in  Jericho,  on  the 
imperial  farms,  to  her  friend  at  home,  which  gives  a  very  vivid  idea  of  the 
country  at  that  time.  Zaccheus  was  either  connected  with  the  imperial  farms, 
or  sat  in  this  border  town  at  receipt  of  custom — more  probably  the  former, 
since  he  proposed  to  restore  the  money  he  had  exacted,  a  task  impossible  to  a 
mere  toll-keeper  with  a  passenger  constituency.  In  Josephus'  time,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  region  still  flourished.  In  the  fourth  century  there  were  many 
palms  ( '  Descriptio  Orbis  Totius,'  Miiller,  Geogr.  Graci  Minores,  ii.  513).  The 
Christian  population  was  mainly  of  monks  and  anchorites,  with  keepers  of 
inns  for  pilgrims  ;  and  under  these  influences  cultivation  seems  to  have 
declined.  In  the  seventh  century  Adamnan,  and  in  the  eighth  another, 
still  saw  palm  groves  ;  but  at  the  Moslem  invasion  the  town  was  deserted. 
The  Saracens  revived  the  culture,  and  introduced  sugar,  which  the  Crusaders 
found  growing  (Rey,  Col.  Fnmques,  etc.,  248).  There  are  ruins  still  called 
Tawahin-ez-Zukker,  'sugar-mills,'  not  far  from  the  fount  of  Elisha.  The 
revenues  were  great  (Will,  of  Tyre,  xv.  27)  at  the  time  of  the  Latin  kingdom. 
There  were  still  palms.  From  the  Crusades  onwards,  the  place  was  more 
and  more  neglected,  till  it  was  reduced  to  its  present  pitiful  condition.  The 
last  palm  was  seen  by  Robinson  in  1838  ;  it  is  now  gone.  The  present  village 
occupies  the  site  neither  of  the  Old  Testament  nor  of  the  New  Testament 
Jericho.  The  former  lay  round  'Ain  es  Sultan ;  the  latter  to  the  south  of 
this,  on  the  Wady  Kelt.  Robinson,  Bib.  A'es.  i.  Cf.  Zschokke,  Topograpkie 
der  westlichen  Jordans'au,  Jerusalem,  1866. 


268    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

is  no  exaggeration,  but  the  soberest  summary  of  all  her 
history.  Judaea  could  never  keep  her.  She  fell  to  Northern 
Israel  till  Northern  Israel  perished.^  She  fell  to  Bacchides 
and  the  Syrians.^  She  fell  to  Aristobulus  when  he  advanced 
on  his  brother  Hyrcanus  and  Judsea.^  She  fell  without  a 
blow  to  Pompey,*  and  at  the  approach  of  Herod  and  again 
of  Vespasian  her  people  deserted  her.^  It  is  also  interesting 
to  note  that  three  invaders  of  Judaea — Bacchides,  Pompey, 
and  Vespasian — took  Jericho  before  they  attempted  Jeru- 
salem, although  she  did  not  lie  upon  their  way  to  the 
latter,  and  that  they  fortified  her,  not,  it  is  to  be  supposed, 
as  a  base  of  operations,  so  much  as  a  source  of  supplies. 
This  weakness  of  Jericho  was  due  to  two  causes.  An 
open  pass  came  down  on  her  from  Northern  Israel,  and 
from  this  both  part  of  her  water  supply  could  be  cut  off, 
and  the  hills  behind  her  could  be  occupied.  But  besides 
this,  her  people  seem  never  to  have  been  distinguished  for 
bravery ;  and,  indeed,  in  that  climate,  how  could  they  ? 
Enervated  by  the  great  heat,  which  degrades  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Ghor,  and  unable  to  endure  on  their 
bodies  aught  but  linen,^  it  was  impossible  they  could  be 
warriors,  or  anything  but  irrigators,  paddlers  in  water  and 
soft  earth.  We  forget  how  near  neighbours  they  had  been 
to  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  No  great  man  was  born  in 
Jericho  ;  no  heroic  deed  was  ever  done  in  her.  She  has 
been  called  '  the  key '  and  '  the  guardhouse '  of  Judaea  ;  she 
was  only  the  pantry.  She  never  stood  a  siege,  and  her 
inhabitants  were  always  running  away. 


1  See  last  chapter.  "  i  Mace.  ix.  50-53  ;  xiii.  Antt.  i.  3. 

*  xiv.  Antt.  i.  2  ;  cf.  xiii.  ;  ib.  xvi.  3. 

■^  xiv.  Antt.  iv.  I.  •'  xiv.  Antt.  xv.  3  ;  iv.  Wars,  viii.  2,  i 
^  iv.  Wars,  viii.  3. 


The  Borders  and  BtUwarks  ofjudcsa       269 

The  next  road  from  the  East  into  Judah  is  that  which 
leads  up  through  the  wilderness  from  Engedi.^  The  oasis 
of  Engedi  itself  is  the  cause  of  this  road,  for 

,         ,  .  ,     r  The  Pass 

there  are  other  gorges  breakmg  upwards  from 
the  Dead  Sea,  which  are  not  so  difficult  as  the  rocky  stair 
that  climbs  from  it.  Here  again  we  see  what  we  saw  at 
Jericho,  and  to  a  less  degree  at  'Ain  Fcshkah — that  on  this 
side  of  Judxa  the  presence  of  water  and  of  gardens  is  more 
necessary  to  a  road  than  any  open  pass. 

He  who  has  been  to  Engedi  will  always  fear  lest  he 
exaggerate  its  fertility  to  those  who  have  not.  The  oasis 
bursts  upon  him  from  one  of  the  driest  and  ^^^  q^^;^ 
most  poisoned  regions  of  our  planet.  Either  of  Engedi. 
he  has  ridden  across  Jeshimon,  seven  hours  without  a 
water-spring,  three  with  hardly  a  bush,  when  suddenly, 
over  the  edge  of  a  precipice,  400  feet  below  him,  he  sees  a 
river  of  verdure  burst  from  the  rock,  and  scatter  itself, 
reeds,  bush,  trees  and  grass,  down  other  300  feet  to  a 
broad  mile  of  gardens  by  the  beach  of  the  blue  sea  ;  or  he 
has  come  along  the  coast,  through  evil  sulphur  smells,- 
with  the  bitter  sea  on  one  side,  the  cliffs  of  the  desert  on 
the  other,  and  a  fiery  sun  overhead,  when  round  a  corner 
of  the  cliffs  he  sees  the  same  broad  fan  of  verdure  open 
and  slope  before  him.  He  passes  up  it,  through  gardens 
of  cucumber  and  melon,  small  fields  of  wheat,  and  a 
scattered  orchard,  to  a  brake  of  reeds  and  high  bushes, 
with  a  few  great  trees.  He  hears  what,  perhaps,  he  has 
not  heard  for  days — the  rush  of  water  ;  and  then  through 

^  '  The  well  of  the  wild  goat ; '  modern  name,  *Ain-Jidi. 

-  South  of  Engedi  we  failed  to  find  Tristram's  hot  sulphur  springs  where 
they  are  marked  on  the  Survey  Map,  but  the  sulphurous  smell  was  very  appa- 
rent, and  the  gravel  badly  stained.  Heat  94°  in  shade  of  thorn-bush,  in  spite 
of  a  strong  breeze. 


270   The  Historical  Geog7^aphy  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  bush  he  sees  the  foam  of  a  little  waterspout,  six  feet 
high  and  almost  two  broad,  which  is  only  one  branch  of  a 
pure,  fresh  stream  that  breaks  from  some  boulders  above 
on  the  shelf  at  the  foot  of  the  precipices.  The  verdure  and 
water,  so  strange  and  sudden,  with  the  exhilaration  of  the 
great  view  across  the  sea,  produce  the  most  generous 
impressions  of  this  oasis,  and  tempt  to  the  exaggeration 
of  its  fertility.  The  most  enthusiastic,  however,  could  not 
too  highly  rate  its  usefulness  as  a  refuge,  for  it  lies  at  the 
back  of  a  broad  desert,  and  is  large  enough  to  sustain  an 
army.  Its  own  caves  are  insignificant,  but  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood there  is  one 'vast  grotto.'^  More  obvious  are 
the  sites  of  ancient  '  strongholds,'  such  as  David  built ;  and 
over  the  neighbourhood  of  the  stream  are  scattered  the 
ruins  of  masonry — remains  of  the  town  which  Solomon 
perhaps  fortified,-  which  was  the  centre  of  a  toparchy 
under  the  Romans,^  still  a  large  village  in  the  fourth 
century,'*  and  during  the  Crusades  gathered  round  a  con- 

^  Guided  by  a  negro  slave  of  the  Rushaideh  Arabs,  who  own  and  cultivate 
the  oasis,  I  searched  for  caves.  There  is  a  tiny  one  on  the  terrace,  where  the 
water  springs,  and  three  more  lower  down,  almost  on  the  level  of  the  plain. 
According  to  my  guide,  these  were  all  the  caves.  None  of  them  was  large 
enough  to  have  been  the  scene  of  such  a  story  as  i  Sam.  xxiv.  The  strong- 
holds of  David  (xxiii.  29,  and  xxiv.  22)  must  have  lain  by  the  water,  and  the 
cave  is  described  below  them  (xxiv.  22).  Tristram  {Layid  of  Israel,  p.  2S6) 
describes  'a  faiiy  grotto  of  vast  size.' 

-  In  I  Kings  ix.  18,  the  Hebrew  text  reads  Tamar,  while  the  Hebrew 
margin  and  2  Chron.  viii.  4  read  Tadmor.  The  latter  is  evidently  not  correct, 
for  the  town  is  described  as  in  the  wilderness  in  the  land.  Tamar,  therefore, 
must  be  sought  for  somewhere  in  the  wilderness  of  Judaea,  and  where  more 
suitably  than  in  this  frontier  village  of  Hazazon  Tamar  ?  Perhaps  the  Tamar 
of  Ezek.  xlvii.  19,  xlviii.  28,  is  the  same  place. 

^  Josephus,  iii.  Wars,  iii.  5,  but  omitted  by  Pliny  in  his  list  of  the  toparchies, 
Hist.  Nat.  V.  14.  70. 

*  Eusebius,  Onomast. ,  art.  'E77a55i :  Kal  vvv  iarl  KuifXTj  /xeylaTT}  'Iov5aiwv. 
Both  Eusebius  and  Jerome  place  it  vaguely  in  the  wilderness,  in  the  Aulon, 
or  Plain  of  Jericho,  and  on  the  Dead  Sea.     Cf.  Ptolemy,  v.  16.  8. 


The  Borders  and  Bulwarks  of  Jiidcra        2  7 1 

vent,  with  vineyards  celebrated  all  through  Syria.^  In 
ancient  times  Engedi  was  also  famous,  like  Jericho,  for  its 
palms  and  balsam.-  From  the  former  it  derived  one  of 
its  names,  Hazazon-Tamar — '  Hazazon  of  the  Palm  ' — but 
this  tree  has  now  disappeared  as  wholly  as  the  vine.  If 
we  thus  feel  the  fitness  of  Engedi  for  a  refuge,  we  can  also 
appreciate  why  it  should  rank  only  second  to  Jericho  as  a 
gateway  into  Judaea  and  a  source  of  supplies  for  the  march 
through  the  wilderness  behind.  The  way  up  from  it  is 
very  steep.  It  is  not  a  pass  so  much  as  a  staircase,  which 
has  had  partly  to  be  hewn  and  partly  to  be  built  over  the 
rocks.^  When  you  have  climbed  it,  you  stand  on  a  rolling 
plateau.  The  road  breaks  into  two  branches,  Roads  inland 
both  of  them  covered  in  parts  with  ancient  ^^"^  Engedi. 
pavement.  One  turns  away  north-west  by  the  Wady 
Husaseh — in  which  name  the  first  part  of  Hazazon-Tamar, 
perhaps,  survives — to  Herod's  castle  of  Herodeion,  Beth- 
lehem and  Jerusalem.  It  is  a  wild,  extremely  difficult 
road,  and  almost  never  used  by  caravans.*  The  other 
branch  turns  south-west  to  Yuttah  and  Hebron.^  This 
is  the  proper  route  from  Engedi  into  Judaea.  As  the  roads 
from  Jericho  make  for  Bethel  or  Jerusalem,  so  this  from 
Engedi    makes  for   Hebron.     Hebron   and    Engedi   have 

■*  Rey,  Colonies  Frainjites,  384.  It  was  under  Hebron.  'J'y  ai  retrouve 
en  1858,' says  Rey,  '  des  restes  de  constructions  medirevales.'  Scott,  it  will 
be  remembered,  places  here  one  of  the  episodes  of  the  Talisman. 

-  Josephus,  ix.  A7itt.  i.  2. 

^  This  staircase  is  only  some  500  feet,  but,  owing  to  its  steepness  and 
narrowness,  which  allow  the  animals  of  a  caravan  to  convey  up  it  only  a 
fraction  of  their  usual  burdens,  our  mules  took  two  hours  to  bring  our 
baggage  up. 

*  The  salt-carriers  from  Jebel  Usdum  to  Jerusalem  seem,  from  answers 
they  made  to  our  inquiries,  to  prefer  to  go  on  further  north,  before  turning 
up  to  Jerusalem. 

'  For  a  full  description,  see  Robinson,  Bib.  I\es.  ii.  pp.  209  ff. 


272    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  La^id 

always  been  closely  connected.  David  came  down  to 
Engedi  from  the  Hebron  neighbourhood,  and  the  Crusad- 
ing convent  of  Engedi  was  under  the  Bishop  of  Saint 
Abraham.^ 

In  the  reign  of  Jehoshaphat,  the  Moabites  and  Ammon- 
ites, with  other  allies,  invaded  Judaea  by  Engedi  ^ — a  route 
The  Valley  which  they  chose,  not  necessarily  because  they 
of  Blessing,  y^^^  come  round  the  south  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
but  because  Jericho  at  this  time  belonged  not  to  Judaea 
but  to  Israel.  From  Engedi  they  followed  neither  of  the 
roads  just  described,  but  struck  up  between  them,  through 
the  wilderness  of  Tekoa,  towards  the  village  of  this  name. 
It  is  not  a  difficult  route  for  an  army — certainly  less  steep 
than  any  other  part  of  the  approach  to  the  Central  Plateau 
from  the  desert.'  They  came  by  the  ascent  of  Zis.  Jeho- 
shaphat went  out  to  meet  them  in  the  wilderness  offeruel, 
but  found  them  already  slaughtered  and  dispersed  in  a 
valley,  which  was  therefore  called  by  the  relieved  Judaeans 
Berachah,  or  '  Blessing.'  All  these  places  are  as  unknown 
as  the  agents  of  the  mysterious  slaughter.  The  latter  is 
said  to  have  been  effected  by  ambushments,  and  truly,  in 
that  tangle  of  low  hills  and  narrow  water-courses,  enough 
men  might  hide  to  surprise  and  overcome  a  large  army. 
The  Bedouin  camps  are  unseen  till  you  are  just  upon 
them,  and  the  bare  banks  of  a  gully,  up  the  torrent-bed 
of  which  a  caravan  is  painfully  making  its  way,  may  be 
dotted  in  two  minutes  with  armed  men.*     It  was  probably 

^  The  Crusaders'  name  for  Hebron.     See  Rey,  loc.  cit. 

-  2  Chron.  xx. 

^  We  followed  it,  for  the  sake  of  our  mules,  in  preference  to  the  rough  road 
towards  Bethlehem. 

■*  We  had  experience  of  this  on  our  way  from  Engedi  to  Tekoa.  In  the 
afternoon  we  were  coming  up  a  long  winding  gully,  with  no  living  creature  in 


The  Borders  and  Bulwarks  of  Judcea       273 

some  desert  tribes  which  thus  overcame  Jchoshaphat's 
enemies  before  he  arrived.  The  narrative  is  very  obscure, 
but  through  it  we  can  clearly  see  the  characteristics  of  this 
region — the  tangled  hills,  the  ambushes,  the  sudden  sur- 
prise, the  bare  valley  strewn  with  the  slain  and  their  spoil. 

South  of  Engedi,  on  the  dreary  desert  as  it  falls  to  the 
precipices  of  the  Dead  Sea,  the  traveller  still  comes  across 
traces  of  a  great  military  road.  We  found  -pi^g  ^^^^ 
these  fragments  in  a  line  making  straight  for  ^''°'"  '^^^^'i'^^^- 
the  edge  of  the  precipice  above  Masada,  but  how  they  had 
been  continued  down  the  cliff  we  could  not  discover.  It 
had  been  a  road  suitable  for  wheeled  vehicles,  but  now 
even  mules  can  scarcely  descend  to  Masada.  This  road 
has  for  our  present  task  no  importance.  It  was  not  an 
entrance  to  the  land,  but  a  purely  inland  passage  con- 
necting the  Herodian  fortresses  of  Masada  and  Herodium. 

I  have  purposely  refrained  till  now  from  touching  upon 
Israel's  entrance  into  Western  Palestine,  which  xi'e  Incoming 
took  place  across  this  border.  But,  after  what  °^  Israel. 
we  have  just  seen,  we  are  in  a  position  to  judge  how  far 
the  geography  of  the  latter  corresponds  to  the  narratives 
in  Joshua  and  Judges.  These  narratives  are  compiled 
from  several  sources,  which,  on  some  points,  differ  in 
their  testimony.^     But  they  agree  as  to  their  main  facts  : 

siglit  save  a  shepherd  on  a  height  at  a  distance.  He  gave  a  cry,  which  was 
answered  from  a  farther  hill,  and,  in  an  incredibly  short  time,  we  were  sur- 
rounded by  armed  and  yelling  Arabs,  on  foot  and  horseback.  They  belonged 
to  the  Rushaideh  tribe,  and  the  cause  of  their  anger  was  that  we  had  taken  as 
guides  through  their  land  some  of  the  Jahalin.  We  invited  the  chiefs  to 
dinner  at  Tekoa,  paid  two  dollars  for  toll,  and  were  not  further  troubled. 

^  For  instance,  as  to  the  origin  of  the  name  Gilgal.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  an  open  question  whether  we  find  such  a  difference,  amounting  to  a  contra- 
diction, between  Josh,  vi,  24-27,  which  belongs  to  the  great  document  of 
the  Hexateuch,  J  E,  and  relates  how  Israel  burnt  Jericho  and  all  that  was 

S 


2  74   ^^^^  Histoi^ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

that  Israel's  invasion  of  Western  Palestine  was  effected 
by  the  nation  as  a  whole,  and  under  the  leadership  of 
Joshua  ;  that  it  was  an  invasion  by  siege  and  battle,  that 
the  crossing  of  the  Jordan  took  place  near  Jericho,  that 
Jericho  was  the  first  town  taken  from  the  Canaanites,  that 
Joshua  set  the  central  camp  at  Gilgal,  and  that  thence 
Israel  divided  into  two  branches,  one  of  which — Judah  and 
Simeon  with  the  Kenites — attacked  Central  and  Southern 
Judsea,  but  the  other,  the  House  of  Joseph  under  Joshua, 
went  up  to  Ai,  Bethel,  and  Mount  Ephraim. 

The  truth  of  this  narrative  of  Israel's  invasion  has  been 
denied  in  almost  every  particular  by  Stade,  who  maintains 
stade's  ^^"^^^  ^^^  Israel  did  not  invade  Western  Palestine 
Theories.  ^^  ^^^  time,  that  Joshua  did  not  lead  them, 
that  they  did  not  wage  war  on  the  Canaanites,  and  that 
they  did  not  cross  in  the  region  of  Jericho.  There  will  be 
found,  in  an  Appendix  to  this  volume,  an  attempt  to  show 
the  baselessness  of  the  presuppositions  from  which  Stade 
starts  this  theory, — so  singularly  opposed  to  the  only 
traditions  we  possess  on  the  subject, — and  there  will  also 
be  found  detailed  objections  to  his  arguments.^  Here  it  is 
sufficient  to  point  out  how  the  evidence  of  the  geography 
we  have  just   been   surveying   is — as  far  as  it  can  go — 

therein,  and  Joshua  cursed  the  rebuilder  of  it  (a  curse  of  which  i  Kings  xvi. 
34  narrates  the  fulfihnent),  and  Judges  iii.  13,  from  a  different  document, 
which  tells  how  Eglon  of  Moab  smote  Israel  and  possessed  tlie  City  of  Palm- 
trees.  Of  course,  it  is  possible  to  attempt  to  solve  this  apparent  contradic- 
tion by  emphasising  the  fact  that  Jericho  has  changed  its  site  more  than  once; 
and  that  Judges  iii.  13  speaks  of  a  Jericho  which  had  risen  on  another  site 
from  that  cursed  by  Joshua.  But  there  is  no  sign  of  this,  and,  on  the  data 
before  us,  it  seems  more  probable  that  the  writer  of  Judges  iii.  13  was  un- 
acquainted with  the  facts  in  Joshua  vi.  24-27. 

^  See  Appendix  11.  Joshua's  historical  reality  is  supported  by  the  fact  that 
he  is  mentioned  not  only  in  Document  E,  as  Stade  avers,  but  in  Document  J 
as  well. 


The  Borders  and  Buhvarks  of  Judcsa       275 

against  Stade's  theory,  and  in  harmony  with  the  main  h'nes 
of  the  bibHcal  narrative.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  the  limits 
of  geographical  evidence.  It  cannot  absolutely  prove  a  nar- 
rative to  be  correct,  but  if  its  data  agree  with  the  line  the 
narrative  takes,  especially  if  the  narrative  (like  the  one 
before  us)  has  come  down  along  several  lines  of  tradition, 
it  must  create  a  great  presumption  in  favour  of  the  narra- 
tive. Again,  it  may  prove  other  and  rival  versions  of  the 
events,  which  the  narrative  describes,  to  be  improbable  or 
even  absurd,  and  in  that  case,  of  course,  it  lends  the 
narrative  itself  additional  support.  This  is  what  geo- 
graphy does  in  the  issue  between  Stade's  theory  and  the 
bibHcal  account  of  Israel's  invasion  of  Western  Palestine. 
Stade's  theory  fits  the  geographical  conditions  neither  on 
the  east  bank  nor  on  the  west  bank  of  Jordan. 

Stade  declares  that  Israel  cannot  have  crossed  at  Jericho, 
because  the  Plain  of  Shittim  opposite  Jericho  then  be- 
longed to  Moab  ;  but  it  is  generally  admitted,  ^^^^j  ^^^^ 
even  by  critics  most  in  sympathy  with  Stade,^  Geography. 
that  Moab  was  at  the  time  south  of  the  Arnon,  and  that 
Israel  occupied  all  to  the  north  of  this.  It  is  true  that  later 
on  Moab  did  hold  the  country  opposite  Jericho,  but  this 
proves  that  the  tradition  that  Israel  crossed  there  could 
not  have  arisen  at  the  late  date  to  which  Stade  assigns  it. 
Again,  when  he  maintains  that  Israel  could  not  have 
beaten  the  Canaanites  in  war  on  the  Plain  of  Jordan,  we 
must  point  to  the  singular  fact  we  have  already  shown, 
that  Jericho  never  did  stand  a  siege  all  down  her  history. 
But  the  strongest  argument  against  Stade's  theory  lies  in 
the  double  direction  which  the  invasion  is  said  to  have 
taken  from  Jericho.     All  agree  that  Israel  won  a  footing 

'  E.g.,  Wellhausen,  Hist.  p.  5. 


276   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

on  two  parts  of  the  Central  Range — Mount  Ephraim  and 
the  part  opposite  the  Dead  Sea — between  which  there  lay 
for  some  time  a  belt  of  Canaanite  country.  But  from 
what  centre  except  Jericho  could  these  separate  positions 
be  equally  reached  ?  Certainly  not  from  the  Jabbok  ;  it  is 
almost  inconceivable  that  if  Judah  crossed  at  the  Jabbok, 
as,  according  to  Stade,  the  rest  of  the  tribes  did,^  she 
fought  her  wars  so  far  south  as  the  Negeb  of  Judaea. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  main  lines  of  the  biblical  narra- 
tive are  in   harmony  with   the   geographical    data.     The 
The  Biblical  crossing  of  Jericho  is  a  possible  and  a  likely 
^Tth'^^Geo   thing :  ^    the  quick  conquest  of  Jericho  is   in 
graphy.         harmony  with  all  we  have  learned  of  that  city's 
physical  characteristics  and  her  failure  throughout  history 
to  stand   any  siege  ;  ^    the  double    direction   of  the  sub- 
sequent   invasion,    north-west    and    south-west,    agrees 
absolutely  with  the  position  of  the  standing  camp  of  Israel 
near  Jericho  at  Gilgal,  and  with  the  lines  of  road  which  we 
have  been  following  from  Jericho  to  the  interior  ;   while, 
finally,  the  return  of  Joshua  to  Gilgal  after  the  first  con- 
quests on  the  Central  Range,*  and  the  authority  which,  it 
is    to    be    presumed,    Israel    continued    to   exercise    from 
Gilgal  upon  the  Central  Range,  has  an  interesting  analogy 

^  It  has  been  thought  by  some  that  Judah  did  not  enter  Palestine  across 
the  Jordan  with  the  rest  of  the  tribes,  but,  along  with  the  Kenites,  came  up 
from  Kadesh  through  the  Negeb.  Stade  will  not  allow  more  than  ^perhaps 
to  this  theory  (G'«r/2.  132;  he  says  nothing  of  it  in  his  account  of  Judah 
157-160).  Oort  has  adopted  it  in  his  Atlas.  But  every  geographical  indication 
goes  to  show  that  Judah  entered  her  territory  from  the  north,  her  first  seats 
being  Bethlehem  and  Baal-Judah  (Kiriath  Jearim),  and  that  only  later  did  she 
come  south  to  Hebron. 

-  Meyer,  whose  analysis  of  the  Documents  (Z  A  T  IP,  i.)  is  unsparing, 
firmly  believes  in  this  part  of  the  narrative. 

^  The  bulk  of  Joshua  iv.,  describing  the  fall  of  Jericho,  belongs  to  the  two 
oldest  documents  J  E.  *  Josh.  x.  43. 


The  Borders  and  Bulwarks  of  Judcea       277 

in  the  description  (from  the  same  source)  ^  of  the  district  of 
Gilgal,  as  a  centre  of  Canaanite  authority  over  the  Central 
Range  before  Israel's  time  ;  while  both  facts  are  seen  to 
be  perfectly  possible  in  face  of  the  open  passes  that  lead  up 
from  this  part  of  the  Jordan  Valley  into  Mount  Ephraim. 

The  route  by  which  Judah  and  Simeon  went  up  to  theh' 
/^/j- cannot,  of  course,  be  definitely  traced  by  us.  But  we 
may  notice  that  two  of  the  most  ancient  settle- 

The  entrance 

ments  of  Judah — Bethlehem  and   Hebron^ —    ofjudahand 

Simeon. 

correspond  to  the  tw^o  great  routes  from  the 
Jordan  Valley  into  Central  Judaea,  by  'Ain  Feshkah  and 
Engedi.  With  them  went  up  the  nomadic  tribe  which  at 
Sinai  had  attached  itself  to  the  fortunes  of  Israel.  And 
the  sons  of  Hobab,  the  Kenite,  brother-in-law  of  Moses,  went 
up  out  of  the  Town  of  Palms  zvith  the  children 

.  r    r      1    1  '^^'^^  Kenites. 

of  Jndah  znto  the  wilderness  of  fudaii  at  the 

going  down  of  Arad,  and  they  went  and  dwelt  with   the 

Anialekite}     That  is  to  say,  while  the  main  Judaean  stock 

^  Deut.  xi.  30,  which  is  from  the  same  hand  as  Josh.  x.  43. 

-  Judges  i.  Meyer  and  Budde  have  shown  the  true  course  and  connection 
of  this  chapter  (mainly  from  J).     See  Budde,  Ki.  tt.  Saui.  1-24,  84-S9. 

"  Judges  i.  3-1 1. 

■*  Judges  i.  16.  The  corrupt  Hebrew  text  must  be  amended  in  some  such 
wayasabove.  See  Meyer  and  Hollenberg  (Zyi  TlV,i.).  ^QnAde,  Ri.71.  Sam. 
9- 1 1  and  86,  Kittel,  Gesch.  242,  243.  There  is  no  reason  to  omit  sons  of  as 
Budde  does ;  it  is  justified  by  different  LXX.  sources,  and  the  passage,  from 
the  plural  verb  in  the  first  clause  to  the  singular  verbs  in  the  second,  need  give 
no  trouble.  That  a  proper  name  has  fallen  out  of  the  Hebrew  text  is  obvious. 
Brother  iii-la7v  needs  it,  and  LXX.  Mss.  give  us  a  choice  of  two,  of  which 
Hobab  is  to  be  preferred  in  this  J  Document.  Kittel  is  right  in  rejecting 
Meyer's  suggestion  of  aW  Qai)i.  The  going  dow7t  of  Arad,  LXX.  (Vatican 
text)  is  to  be  preferred  to  the  Massoretic  A'egeb  or  south  of  Arad,  for,  as  Budde 
says,  if  Arad  is  in  the  wilderness  of  Judah,  it  cannot  be  connected  with  the 
Negeb.     In  v.    17,  Budde  and  Kittel  rightly  retain  Arad.     All  agree  with 

Hollenberg  that  Dyil  people  must  read  ^y^l^V^  'Amalek  or  Budde  more  cor- 
rectly ""pPDyn,  the  Amalekite.  The  LXX.  has  'Amalek,  and  the  reading  is  in 
conformity  with  I  Sam    xv.  5  iU 


278   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

settled  on  the  arable  ground,  and  in  cities,  and  inter- 
married with  the  Canaanites,  the  Kenites,  true  to  their 
nomadic  origin,  turned  into  the  wilderness  of  Judah,  and 
dwelt  with  the  Amalekites.  The  going  down  of  Arad  is 
the  south-eastern  buttress  of  the  Judaean  plateau,  at  the 
head  of  the  gorge  which  runs  up  from  Masada,  the  Wady 
Seyyal.  The  name  Arad  still  exists  there  seventeen  miles 
south-east  of  Hebron.  The  rocky  dwelling  of  the  Kenite, 
visible  from  Nebo,^  cannot  be  strictly  identified.  It  is 
probably  not  the  heights  of  Yekin,  to  which  it  has  been 
assigned,-  for  those  are  not  sufficiently  in  the  desert. 
Engedi  itself  is  possible.  The  stronghold  and  oasis  must 
have  been  in  possession  of  somebody  :  to-day  they  are 
owned  and  cultivated  by  the  Rushaideh,  a  Bedawee  tribe 
like  the  Kenites, 

II.  The  Southern  Border:  the  NeCxEb. 

The  survey  of  the  southern  border  of  Judsea  leads  us 
out  upon  a  region  of  immense  extent  and  of  great  historical 
interest — the  Negeb,  translated  The  South  in  our  version,^ 

^  Num.  xxiv.  21  ff. 

-  P.E.F.  Red.  Map,  1891.  Henderson,  p.  71.  The  name  has  no  real 
similarity. 

^  E.g.,  Gen.  xiii.  i  ;  i  Sam.  xxx.  i  ;  Ps.  cxxvi.  4.  The  Negeb  extended 
from  the  Arabah  to  the  coast,  and  was  variously  named  according  to  the 
people  on  the  north  of  it.  There  was  the  TllDn  "j,  or  the  part  to  the  south 
of  Philistia  ;  ''^N»rn\"I  ":,  south  of  the  Shephelah  ;  3^3  ':,  south  of  Hebron 
(there  is  a  W.  el  Kulab  about  ten  miles  south-west  of  Hebron) ;  the  min^  '3  or 
miriv  "IK'X,  which  covered  the  same  central  portion,  and  the  ""Jpn  'j  whicli 
was  the  eastmost  part  to  the  south  of  the  seats  of  the  Kenites  (i  Sam.  xxvii. 
10,  xxx.  14,  2  Sam.  xxiv.  7).  It  is  once  used  for  Judah,  Ezek.  xxi.  2  f.  (Heb. ) ; 
in  the  Book  of  Daniel  it  stands  for  Egypt,  viii.  9,  xi.  5  ff.  As  D^  Sea  is  used  in 
Palestine  for  the  West,  so  Negeb  came  to  be  used  generically  for  the  South ; 
the  south  border,  Josh.  xv.  2,  4,  xviii.  19;  south  of  Gennesareth,  Josh.  xi.  2, 
cf.  Zech.  xiv.  10.  The  name  occurs  several  times  on  the  Egyptian  monu- 
ments :  W.  Max  Midler,  Asien  u.  Eiiropa  nach.  altligypt.  Detik/n.,  14S. 


The  Borders  and  Bulwarks  of  Judcea       279 

but  literally  meaning  the  Dry  or  Parched  Land.  The 
character  and  the  story  of  the  Negeb  require  a  separate 
study :  here  we  are  concerned  with  it  only  as  the  southern 
border  of  Judeea. 

From  Hebron  the  Central  Range  lets  itself  slowly  down 
by  broad  undulations,  through  which  the  great  Wad)- 
Khulil  ^   winds   as  far  as  Beersheba,  and  then, 

Between 

as  Wady    es-Seba,  turns  sharply  to  the  west,    Hebron  and 

Beersheba. 

findmg  the  sea  near  Gaza.  It  is  a  country 
visited  by  annual  rains,  with  at  least  a  few  perennial 
springs,  and  in  the  early  summer  abundance  of  flowers 
and  corn.  We  descended  from  Hebron  to  Dhaheriyah, 
probably  the  site  of  Kiriath  Sepher,  over  moors  and 
through  wheat-fields,  arranged  in  the  narrower  wadies  in 
careful  terraces,  but  lavishly  spread  over  many  of  the 
broader  valleys.  A  thick  scrub  covered  most  of  the 
slopes.  There  were  olive  groves  about  the  villages,  but 
elsewhere  few  trees.  We  passed  a  stream  and  four 
springs,-  two  with  tracts  of  marshy  ground,  and,  though  it 
was  the  end  of  April,  some  heavy  showers  fell.  South  of 
Dhaheriyah — which  may  be  regarded  as  the  frontier  town 
between  the  hill-country  and  the  Negeb  ^ — the  soil  is  more 

'  El-Khulil,  'the  friend,'  that  is,  of  God,  a  title  of  Abraham,  is  also  the 
modern  name  of  his  city,  Hebron,  near  which  the  Wady  starts. 

-  On  either  side  of  the  Seil  el  Dilbeh  is  a  spring  ;  on  the  north,  the  'Ain 
Ilegireh,  with  a  shadoof  for  irrigation,  and  on  the  south  the  'Ain  Dilbeh,  a 
square  pool  covered  with  weeds.  These  have  been  supposed  to  be  the  upper 
and  nether  springs  granted  by  Caleb  to  his  daughter,  to  compensate  for  the 
dryness  of  her  domain  in  the  Negeb  (Judt^es  i.  14,  15).  It  is  a  very  fertile 
valley  here,  and  the  hills  can  feed  many  flocks.  But  there  are  springs  farther 
south  than  these  two,  and  a  stream  running  in  April  in  the  Wady  Hafayer. 

•'  Edh-Dhaheriyah  is  probably  Debir,  known  also  as  Kiriath  Sepher  (Josh.  xv. 
15),  which  LXX.  translate  TroXts  7pa^MdTa;;',  city  of  letters.  Moore  (quoted  in 
Siegfr.  Stade)  suggests  1DD  fl^lp,  or  Border-town.  But  why  not  Pay-town,  or 
Toll-town  ?  (after    "IDD  payment,  2  Chron.  ii.  16,  Heb.  ;  17,  Eng. )    It  lies 


2  8o   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

bare,  but  travellers  coming  up  from  the  desert  delight  in 
the  verdure  which  meets  them  as  soon  as  they  have 
passed  Beersheba  and  the  Wady  es-Seba.^  The  disposi- 
tion of  the  land — the  gentle  descent  cut  by  the  broad 
Wady — and  its  fertility  render  it  as  open  a  frontier,  and 
as  easy  an  approach  to  Judaea,  as  it  is  possible  to  conceive. 
But  it  does  not  roll  out  upon  the  level  desert.  South  of 
South  of  Beersheba,  before  the  level  desert  is  reached 
Beersheba.  ^j^^  ^^  region  of  roads  from  Arabia  to  Egypt 
and  Philistia,  there  lie  sixty  miles  of  mountainous  country, 
mostly  disposed  in  'steep  ridges  running  east  and  west,'^ 
whose  inaccessibleness  is  further  certified  by  the  character 
of  the  tribe  that  roam  upon  it.  Wilder  sons  of  Ishmael 
are  not  to  be  found  on  all  the  desert.^  The  vegetation, 
even  after  rain,  is  very  meagre,  and  in  summer  totally 
disappears.  *  No  great  route  now  leads,  or  ever  has 
led,  through  this  district ; '  *  but  the  highways  which 
gather  upon  the  south  of  it  from  Egypt,  Sinai,  the  Gulf  of 
Akabah,  and  Arabia,  are  thrust  by  it  either  to  the  east  up 
the  Wady  'Arabah  to  the  Dead  Sea,  or  to  the  west  towards 
Gaza  and  Philistia.     Paths,  indeed,  skirt  this  region,  and 

on  a  high-road.  Another  name  is  HSD  TTilp  Kirialh  Sannah  (Josh.  xv.  49). 
thorn-town  (?),  perhaps  only  a  misreading  of  Kiriath  Sepher,  since  LXX.  still 
have  7r6Xts  ypa/x/jidTwv.  It  is  at  least  worth  noting  that  the  Hebrew  common 
noun  of  the  same  spelling  as  the  name  of  the  town,  T'QT  or  Debir,  means 
the  back-part,  or  part  behind  ;  while  Dhaheriyah  may  mean  that  also.  The 
town  must  have  lain  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hebron,  and  on  the  hills 
(Josh.  xi.  21  ;  XV.  48).  It  had  been  a  chief  town  of  the  Canaanites  (xii. 
13),  and  was  set  apart  for  the  priests  (xxi.  i,  15),  but  might  also  be  said  to  be 
on  the  Negeb,  xv.,  cf.  v.  15  with  v.  19  (though  this  does  not  necessarily 
follow).  Now  Dhaheriyah  does  suit  this  double  designation.  It  is  on  the 
hills,  but  at  the  iack  of  them,  when  coming  from  Judah,  and  just  over  the 
edge  of  the  very  fertile  country.     See  Additional  Note  at  end  of  volume. 

^  Robinson,  ^.A\  i.  305,  306.  ^  /&.  275. 

^  The  Azazimeh  ;  cf.  Trumbull's  Kadesh  Barnca. 

*  Robinson,  B.E.  i.  275. 


The  Borders  and  Btilwarks  of  J ua  era        281 

even  cross  its  corners,  but  they  are  not  war-paths.  When 
Judah's  frontier  extended  to  Klath,  Solomon's  cargoes 
from  Ophir/  and  the  tribute  of  Arabian  kings  to  Jehosha- 
phat,-  were  doubtless  carried  through  it.  When  any  one 
power  held  the  whole  land,  merchants  traversed  it  from 
Petra  to  Hebron  or  Gaza,^  or  skirted  it  by  the  Roman 
road  that  ran  up  the  west  of  it  from  Akabah  to  Jerusalem  ;^ 
and  even  whole  tribes  might  drift  across  it  in  days  when 
Judah  had  no  inhabitants  to  resist  them.  Wlien  the 
Jews  came  back  from  exile,  they  found  Edomites  settled 
at  least  as  far  north  as  Hebron.  But  no  army  of  invasion, 
knowing  that  opposition  awaited  them  upon  the  Judaean 
frontier,  would  \-enture  across  those  steep  and  haggard 
ridges,  especiall}'  when  the  Dead  Sea  and  Gaza  routes  lie 
so  convenient  on  either  hand,  and  lead  to  regions  so  much 
more  fertile  than  the  Judaean  plateau. 

Hence  we  find  Judaea  almost  never  invaded  from  the 
south.  Chedorlaomer's  expedition,  on  its  return  from 
the  desert  of  Paran,  swept  north  by  the  ^-j^g  Ncreb 
'Arabah  to  the  cities  of  the  plain,  sacking  as  a  frontier. 
Engedi  by  the  way,  but  leaving  Hebron  untouched." 
Israel  themselves  were  repulsed  seeking  to  enter  the 
Promised  Land  by  this  frontier ;  ^  and,  perhaps  most 
significant  of  all,  the  invasion  by   Islam,  though  its  chief 

^  I  Kings  ix.  26-28.  "  2  Chron.  .xvii.  11. 

^  As  they  do  to  this  day.     See  p.  183. 

*  As  shown  in  the  Tabula  Peutingeriana.  ^  Gen.  xiv. 

•^  The  theory  that  either  the  whole  tribes  of  Judah  and  .Simeon,  or  the 
Kenites,  did  not  cross  the  Jordan  like  the  rest  of  Israel,  but  came  up  through 
the  Negeb,  has  absolutely  no  evidence  to  support  it  beyond  the  fact  that  for 
a  time  Judah  was  separated  from  the  other  tribes  by  a  Canaanite  belt  crossing 
the  range  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem ;  and  this  is  satisfactorily 
explained,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  double  and  far-parting  entrance  into  the 
land  at  Jciicho.      Sec  pp.  276  ff. 


282    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

goal  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  Holy  City  of  Jerusalem, 
and  though  its  nearest  road  to  this  lay  past  Hebron, 
swerved  to  east  and  west,  and  entered,  some  of  it  by  Gaza, 
and  some,  like  Israel,  across  Jordan.  The  most  likely 
foes  to  swarm  upon  Judah  by  the  slopes  of  Hebron  were 
the  natives  of  this  wild  desert,  the  Arabians,  or,  as  they 
were  called  from  the  Red  Sea^  to  Philistia,-  the  Anialekites  ; 
but  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  though  they  sometimes 
invaded  the  Negeb,^  they  must  have  been  oftener  attracted, 
as  they  still  are,  to  the  more  fertile  and  more  easily  over- 
run fields  of  the  Philistines.  It  was  nine  furlo)igs  from 
famnia  that  Judas  Maccabeus  defeated  in  a  great  battle 
the  nomads  of  Arabia -f  and  the  proper  harbour  of  the 
desert  and  emporium  of  Arabian  trade  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  not  Hebron  but  Gaza.^  The  best  defences  of  a  road 
or  a  frontier  against  these  impetuous  swarms  of  warriors 
are  strong  towers,  such  as  still  protect  the  great  Hajj  road 
from  Syria  to  Mecca  from  the  Bedouin,*^  and  of  these  Uzziah 
built  a  number  in  the  desert  to  the  south  and  east  of  Judah. '^ 
The  symbolic  use  of  towers  in  the  Bible  is  well  known. 

The  most  notable  road  across  this  border  of  Judah  was 
the  continuation  of  the  great  highway  from  Bethel,  which 
The  roads  kept  the  watershed  to  Hebron,  and  thence  came 
of  the  Negeb.  (Jq^^j-,  ^q  Bcerslieba.  From  here  it  struck  due 
south  across  the  western  ridges  of  the  savage  highland 
district,  and  divided  into  several  branches.  One,  the 
Roman  road  already  noticed,  curved  round  the  south  of 
the  highland  district  to  Akabah  and  Arabia ;  another, 
the  way  perhaps  of  Elijah  when  he  fled  from  Jezebel,"^  and 

^  Exod.  xvii.  S.  ^  \  Sam.  xxx.  i. 

^  I  Chron.  iv.  43.  *  2  Mace.  xii.  11. 

5  See  p.  182  ff.  8  Cf.  Doughty,  Arabia  Desert  a,  i.  13. 

''  2  Chron.  xxvi.  10.  ^  I  Kintrs  xix. 


The  Borders  and  Bukvarks  of  Judcea       28 


o 


much  used  by  mediaeval  and  modern  pilgrims,  crossed  to 
Sinai ;  while  a  third  struck  direct  upon  Egypt,  the  way  to 
Shiir.  By  this  last  Abraham  passed  and  repassed  through 
the  Negeb  ;  ^  Hagar,  the  Egyptian  slave-woman,  fled  from 
her  mistress,  perhaps  w^ith  some  wild  hope  of  reaching  her 
own  country  ;  -  and  Jacob  went  down  into  Egypt  with  his 
wagons.^  In  times  of  alliance  between  Egypt  and  Judah, 
this  was  the  way  of  communication  between  them.  So 
that  fatal  embassy  must  have  gone  from  Jerusalem,  which 
Isaiah  describes  as  struggling  in  the  latid  of  trouble  and 
anguish,  ivhence  are  the  young  lion  and  the  old  lion,  the 
viper  and  fiery  flying  serpent;'^  and  so,  in  the  time  of  the 
Crusades,  those  rich  caravans  passed  from  Cairo  to  Saladin 
at  Jerusalem,  one  of  which  Richard  intercepted  near 
Beersheba.^  It  is  an  open  road,  but  a  wild  one,  and  was 
never,  it  would  seem,  used  for  the  invasion  of  Judaea  from 
Egypt.^  The  nearer  way  to  the  most  of  Syria  from 
Egypt  lay,  as  we  have  seen,  along  the  coast,  and,  passing 
up  the  Maritime  Plain,  left  the  hill-country  of  Judaea  to 
the  east. 

This,  then,  was  the  southern  frontier  of  Judah,  in  itseli 
an    easy  access,  with  one  trunk-road,  but  barred  by  the 

1  Gen.  xiii.  i. 

-  Gen.  xvi.  7.  The  ivell  was  called  Be'er  Lahai  Roi=  The  Well  of  the 
Living  One  luho  seeth  me,  but  it  may  be  The  Well  called  '  He  that  seeth  tne 
liveth^  (Wei.),  behold,  it  is  betzveen  Kadesh  and  Bered  (for  the  latter  the 
Targum  Ps.  Jonathan  gives  Khalutza,  i.e.  the  present  Khalasah,  ruins  thirteen 
miles  south  of  Beersheba).  Twelve  miles  north-west  of  'Ain  Kadis  is  'Ain  el 
Muweileh,  which  Rowlands  says  is  pronounced  Moilahhi  by  the  Arabs,  and 
thus  it  is  suggested,  is  Ma-lehayi-rai,  or  'water  of  the  living  one  seeing' 
(P.E.F.Q.,  1884,   177). 

"  Gen.  xlvi.  i,  5  f.  ^  Isa.  xxx.  6.  ^  See  p.  235. 

"  Unless  Shishak  came  up  this  way.  In  his  lists  of  conquests  occur  some 
names  in  the  Negeb,  but  not  far  enough  south  to  prove  that  he  took  this  road. 
See  Maspero  in  Trans.  Vict.  Inst.  ;  W.  Max  Midler,  Asien  u.  Eitropa,  14S. 


284    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

great  desert  ridges  to  the  south  of  it,  and  enjoying  even 
greater  security  from  the  fact  of  its  more  lofty  and  barren 
The  Southern  position    between   two  regions  of  such  attrac- 
frontier—        tiveness  to  invaders  as  the  Valley  of  the  Jordan 
ideal.  ^sxA  the  Plain  of  Philistia.     Before  we  leave 

this  region,  it  is  well  to  notice  that  the  broad  barrier  of 
rough  highlands  to  the  south  of  Beersheba  represents  the 
difference  between  the  ideal  and  the  practical  borders  of 
the  Holy  Land.  Practically  the  land  extended  from  Dan 
to  Beersheba,  where,  during  the  greater  part  of  history, 
the  means  of  settled  cultivation  came  to  an  end  ;  but  the 
ideal  border  was  the  River  of  Egypt,  the  present  Wady 
el  Arish,  whose  chief  tributary  comes  right  up  to  the  foot 
of  the  highlands  south  of  Beersheba,  and  passes  between 
them  and  the  level  desert  beyond. 

Of  all  names  in  Palestine  there  are  hardly  any  better 
known  than  Beersheba.  Nothing  could  more  aptly  illus- 
trate the  defencelessness  of  these  southern 
slopes  of  Judah  than  that  this  site  which  marked 
the  frontier  of  the  land  was  neither  a  fortress  nor  a  gateway, 
but  a  cluster  of  wells  on  the  open  desert.  But,  like  Dan, 
at  the  other  end  of  the  land,  Beersheba  was  a  sanctuary. 
These  two  facts — its  physical  use  to  their  flocks,  its  holi- 
ness to  themselves — are  strangely  intermingled  in  the 
stories  of  the  Patriarchs,  whose  herdsmen  strove  for  its 
waters  ;  who  themselves  plant  a  tamarisk,  and  call  on  the 
name  of  Jehovah,  the  everlastifig  God.  The  two  great 
narratives  of  the  Pentateuch  differ  in  describing  the  origin 
of  Beersheba.  The  one  imputes  it  to  Abraham,  the  other, 
in  ver}'  similar  circumstances,  to   Isaac. ^     The  meaning  of 

^  Gen.  xxi.  22-32,  which  imputes  it  to  Abraham,  belongs  to  the  Document 
E  ;  but  Gen.  xxvL  26-33,  v-  33)  which  imputes  it  to  Isaac,  belongs  to  J. 


The  Borders  and  Buhvarks  of  Jiidcea       285 

the  name  as  it  stands  might  either  be  the  Well  of  Seven 
or  the  Well  of  (the)  Oath,  and  in  one  passage  both  etymo- 
logies seem  to  be  struggling  for  decision/  though  the  latter 
prevails.  There  are  seven  wells  there  now,  and  to  the 
north,  on  the  hills  that  bound  the  valley,  are  scattered 
ruins  nearly  three  miles  in  circumference.  Beersheba  was 
a  place  of  importance  under  Samuel  ;  his  sons  judged 
there.-  Elijah  fled  to  Beersheba.^  It  was  still  a  sanctuary 
in  the  eighth  century,  and  frequented  even  by  Northern 
Israel.*  During  the  separation  of  the  kingdoms  the  iox- 
mula,  fro/u  Dan  to  BeersJieba,  became /"r^?/;/  Geba  to  Beer- 
sheba^ or  from  Beersheba  to  Mount  Ephraivi^  On  the 
return  from  exile,  Beersheba  was  again  peopled  by  Jews, 
and  the  formula  ran  from  BeersJieba  to  the  valley  of 
Hinnojii?  In  Roman  times  Beersheba  was  'a  very  large 
village '  with  a  garrison.*^  It  was  the  seat  of  a  Christian 
bishopric.'^  The  Crusaders  did  not  come  so  far  south, 
and  confused  Beersheba  with  Beit-Jibrin.^*' 

South  of  Beersheba,  for  thirty  miles,  the  country, 
though  mostly  barren,  is  sprinkled  with  ruins  of  old 
Ullages,  gathered  round  wells.  They  date  mostly  from 
Christian  times,  and   are  eloquent   in  their  testimony  to 

1  Gen.  xxi.  22-^ia  obviously  implies  the  meaning  to  be  the  Well  of  Seven. 
But  3i'''-32  more  strongly  says  that  it  means  the  Well  of  the  Oath.  It 
almost  seems  as  if  two  accounts  were  here  mingled  ;  and,  though  there  is  no 
linguistic  proof  of  this,  all  the  passage  from  22  to  32  belonging  to  E,  one  is 
inclined  to  extend  J  back  from  33,  34  to  311^.  Stade  thinks  the  meaning 
Seven  Wells  was  the  ancient  Canaanite  one  (the  form  in  that  sense  being 
un-llebraic),  and  that  the  Well  of  the  Oath  was  what  the  Hebrews  changed 
it  to  in  conformity  with  their  syntax,  Gesch.  i.  127.  LXX.,  Gen.  xxi.  31,  (ppiap 
SpKiff/xov,  xlvi.  I ,  TO  (ppeap  tov  6pKov. 

^   I  Sam.  viii.  2.  ■^  i  Kings  xix.  3.  "*  Amos  v.  5,  viii.   14. 

•''  2  Kings  xxiii.  8.  ®  2  Chron.  xix.  4.  "  Nch.  xi.  27,  30. 

^  Euseb.  and  Jerome,  Otjovi.  art.  Brjpcra^ei,  Bersabee. 

»  Socrates,  Btsf.  Eccl.  "*  See  p.  232. 


286   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  security  which  the  Roman  Government  imposed  on 
even  the  most  lawless  deserts.  The  only  Old  Testament 
Other  towns  ^^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  important  are  the  city  of  Salt  ^ 
oftheNegeb.  ^^^  Moladah  ;  ^  Zephath  or  Hormah  and 
Ziklag,  all  unknown  ;  Rehoboth  is  probably  Ruheibeh. 
The  ascent  of  'Akrabbim  was  on  the  south-east  corner 
of  Judaea,  going  up  from  the  'Arabah  valley,  near  the 
end  of  the  Dead  Sea.^ 

One  other  thing  we  must  note  before  we  leave  this 
border  of  Judah.  Just  as  on  her  eastern  border  Judah 
was  in  touch  with  the  Arab  Kenites,  so  on  the  Negeb  she 
touched,  and  in  time  absorbed,  the  Amalekite  or  Edomite 
clan  of  the  Jerahmeelites."* 

III.  The  Western  Border. 

The  ideal  boundary  of  Judeea  on  the  west  was  the 
Mediterranean,  but,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Maritime  Plain 
was  never  in  Jewish  possession  (except  for  intervals  in 
the  days  of  the  Maccabees),  and  even  the  Shephelah  was 
debatable  ground,  as  often  out  of  Judah  as  within  it. 
The  most  frequent  border,  therefore,  of  Judah  to  the  west 
was  the  edge  of  the  Central  Range.  In  the  previous 
chapter  on  the  Shephelah  it  was  pointed  out  in  detail 
how  real  a  frontier  this  was.  A  long  series  of  valleys 
running  south  from  Ajalon  to  Beersheba  separate  the  low 
loose  hills  of  the  Shephelah  from  the  lofty  compact  range 

^  Josh.  XV.  62. 

-  Josh.  .\v.  26,  xix.  2  ;  I  Chron.  iv.  28  ;  Neh.  xi.  26.  Robinson  places  it 
at  Tell  el  Milh,  which  Conder,  however,  identifies  with  .the  city  of  Salt. 

^  For  the  whole  geography  of  this  region,  cf.  Robinson,  B.R,  i.,  Tnnn- 
buU's  Kadesh  Barnea,  Palmer's  Desert  of  the  Exodus,  Drake's  and  Kitchener's 
reports,  P.E.F.Q.  ;  also  the  relevant  paragraphs  in  Henderson's  Palestine. 

■*  I  Sam.  xxvii.  10,  xxx.  29  :  i  Chron.  ii.  9.     Stade,  Cesch.  i.  159. 


The  Borders  atid  Bulwarks  of  Judcea        287 

to  the  east — tJie  hill-country  of  Judt^a.  This  great  barrier, 
which  repelled  the  Philistines,  even  when  they  had  con- 
quered the  Shephelah,  is  penetrated  by  a  ^i^^  western 
number  of  defiles,  none  more  broad  than  those  "^^^''''f^s. 
of  Beth-horon,  of  the  Wady  Ali  along  which  the  present 
high-road  to  Jerusalem  travels,  and  of  the  Wady  Surar  up 
which  the  railway  runs.  Few  are  straight,  most  of  them 
sharpl}'  curve.  The  sides  are  steep,  and  often  precipitous, 
frequentl)'  with  no  path  between  save  the  rough  torrent 
bed,  arranged  in  rapids  of  loose  shingle,  or  in  level  steps  of 
the  limestone  strata,  which  at  the  mouth  of  the  defile  are 
often  tilted  almost  perpendicularly  into  easily  defended 
obstacles  of  passage.  The  sun  beats  fiercely  down  upon 
the  limestone ;  the  springs  are  few,  though  sometimes 
very  generous  ;  a  low  thick  bush  fringes  all  the  brows, 
and  caves  abound  and  tumbled  rocks.^ 

Everything  conspires  to  give  the  few  inhabitants  easy 
means  of  defence  against  large  armies.  It  is  a  country  of 
ambushes,  entanglements,  surprises,  where  large  armies 
have  no  room  to  fight,  and  the  defenders  can  remain 
hidden  ;  where  the  essentials  for  war  are  nimbleness  and 
the  sure  foot,  the  power  of  scramble  and  of  rush.  We  see 
it  all  in  the  Eighteenth  Psalm  :  By  thcc  do  I  run  through  a 
troop,  and  by  my  God  do  I  leap  over  a  wall ;  the  God  that 
girdeth  me  with  strength  and  maketh  my  zuay  perfect.  He 
niaketh  my  feet  like  Imids'  feet,  and  setteth  me  on  my  high 
places.  Thou  hast  enlarged  my  steps  under  mc,  and  my  feet 
have  not  slipped. 

^  I  clescril)e  from  my  observation  of  the  Wady  el-Kuf  from  lieit-Jibrin  to 
Hebron,  and  of  tliree  defiles  that  run  up  from  the  W.  en  Najil  to  the  plateau 
about  Beit  Atab.  So  also  Schick,  Z.D.P.V.  x.  131,  132,  on  the  Wady 
Ismain  :  ' .  .  .  dass  das  Thai  viele  und  grosse  Krummungen  hat  tief  ein- 
geschnitten  und  stets  von  steilen  Boschungen  cingeschlossen  ist,  und  keine 
Ortschaften  tiagt.' 


288    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Yet  with  negligent  defenders  the  western  border  of 
Judaea  is  quickly  penetrated.  Six  hours  at  the  most  will 
Their  bring  an  army  up  any  of  the  defiles,  and  then 

invaders.  they  stand  on  the  central  plateau,  within  a  few 
easy  miles  of  Jerusalem  or  of  Hebron.  So  it  happened  in 
the  days  of  the  Maccabees.  The  Syrians,  repelled  at 
Beth-horon,  and  at  the  Wady  Ali,  penetrated  twice  the 
unwatched  defiles  to  the  south,  the  second  time  with  a 
large  number  of  elephants,  of  which  we  are  told  that 
they  had  to  come  up  the  gorges  in  single  file.^  What  a 
sight  the  strange  huge  animals  must  have  been,  pushing 
up  the  narrow  path,  and  emerging  for  the  first  and  almost 
only  time  in  history  on  the  plateau  above !  On  both 
occasions  the  Syrians  laid  siege  to  Bethsur,  the  strong- 
hold on  the  edge  of  the  plateau,  which  Judas  had  specially 
fortified  for  the  western  defence  of  the  country.  The  first 
time,  they  were  beaten  back  down  the  gorges  ;  but  the 
second  time,  with  the  elephants,  Bethsur  fell,  and  the 
Syrian  army  advanced  on  Jerusalem.  After  that  all 
attacks  from  the  west  failed,  and  the  only  other  successful 
Syrian  invasion  was  from  the  north.'-^ 

Bethsur,  the  one  fortress  on  the  western  flank  of  Judaea 

south   of  Ajalon,  is   due  to   the  one  open  valley  on  that 

flank,  the  Vale  of  Elah,  above  the  higher  end 

Bethsur. 

of  which  it  stands.  The  need  of  it  could  not 
be  more  eloquently  signified  than  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
up  the  Vale  of  Elah  that  the  Philistines,  the  Syrians  in 
the  second  century  B.C.,  and  Richard  with  the  Third 
Crusade,  all  attempted  to  reach  the  central  plateau — the 
Syrians  and  the  Crusaders  both  choosing  this  entrance 
after  their  attack  by  Ajalon  had  failed. 

^  Josephus  xii.  Autt.  ix.  4.  -  By  Bacchides  in  160. 


The  Borders  and  Buhvarks  of  Judcea       289 

But  if  invaders  came  up  these  defiles  to  the  plateau,  \vc 
may  be  sure  that  the  settlers  on  the  latter  more  easily 
passed  down  them  to  the  Shephelah.  Over  ju^ajj  and  the 
the  Shephelah  Judah  claimed,  if  she  did  not  Canaamtes. 
always  exercise,  dominion  ;  and  the  claim  did  not  rest  so 
much  on  conquest  as  on  kinship.  In  the  earliest  times  the 
tribe  had  intermarried  with  the  Canaanites  of  the  Shephe- 
lah, especially  with  those  round  about  Adullam.  This  is 
the  meaning  of  the  extraordinary  adventures  related  in 
Genesis  xxxviii.  :  Judah  went  down  from  his  brethren^  and 
turned  in  to  a  certain  Adullaniite  whose  name  was  Hirah. 
To  all  lovers  of  the  Bible  this  result  of  criticism  must 
surely  come  as  a  relief,  that  the  following  verses  relate,  not 
the  intercourse  of  individuals,  but  the  intermarriage  of 
families.  As  Judah,  then,  had  Arabian  allies  and  kins- 
folk on  her  eastern  and  southern  borders,  so  here,  on  her 
western,  she  mixed  with  the  Canaanites.^ 

IV.  The  Northern  Border:  the  Fortresses 
OF  Benjamin. 

The  narrow  table-land  of  Judaea  continues  ten  miles  to 
the  north  of  Jerusalem,  before  it  breaks  into  the  valleys 
and  mountains  of  Samaria.  These  last  ten  miles  of  the 
Judaean  plateau — with  steep  gorges  on  the  one  side  to  the 
Jordan  and  on  the  other  to  Ajalon — were  the  debatable 
land  across  which,  as  we  have  seen,  the  most  accessible 
frontier  of  Judaea  fluctuated  ;  and,  therefore,  they  became 
the  site  of  more  fortresses,  sieges,  forays,  battles  and  mas- 
sacres, than  perhaps  any  other  part  of  the  country.     Their 

^  Lagarde  explains  Tamar,  or  Palm,  by  Phoenicia,  Zerah  (niT^niTX 
indigenous)  by  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the  land,  the  Canaanites,  and 
Pharez  by  the  Hebrews  [Or  lent  alia  ii.  1 880). 

T 


290   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

appearance  matches  their  violent  history.  A  desolate  and 
fatiguing  extent- of  rocky  platforms  and  ridges,  of  moor- 
land strewn  with  boulders,  and  fields  of  shallow  soil  thickly 
mixed  with  stone,  they  are  a  true  border — more  fit  for 
the  building  of  barriers  than  for  the  cultivation  of  food. 
The  territory  They  were  the  territory  of  Benjamin,  in  whose 
of  Benjamin,  bjood,  at  the  time  of  the  massacre  of  the  tribe 
"by  Judah,^  they  received  the  baptism  of  their  awful  history. 
As  you  cross  them  their  aspect  recalls  the  fierce  temper  of 
their  inhabitants.  Beiijaviin  shall  ravin  as  a  wolf,  father 
of  sons  who,  noble  or  ignoble,  were  always  passionate  and 
unsparing, — Saul,  Shimei,  Jeremiah,  and  he  that  breathed 
out  threatenings  and  slaughter  against  the  disciples  of  the 
Lord,  and  was  exceeding  mad  against  them}  In  such  a 
region  of  blood  and  tears  Jeremiah  beheld  the  figure  of 
the  nation's  woe  :  A  voice  is  heard  in  Ramah,  lamentation 
and  bitter  weeping,  Rachel  weeping  for  her  children  :  she 
refuseth  to  be  comforted  for  her  children,  because  they  are 
not? 

But  it  is  as  a  frontier  that  we  have  now  to  do  with 

those  ten  northmost  miles  of  the  Judaean  plateau.     Upon 

the  last  of  them  three  roads  concentrate — an 

Bethel  and  1  •    1  r  1        ^ 

the  incom-  Open  highway  from  the  west  by  Gophna,  the 
great  north  road  from  Shechem,  and  a  road 
from  the  Jordan  Valley  through  the  passes  of  Mount 
Ephraim.  Where  these  draw  together,  about  three  miles 
from  the  end  of  the  plateau,  stood  Bethel,  a  sanctuary 
before  the  Exile,  thereafter  a  strong  city  of  Judah.*  But 
Bethel,  where  she  stood,  could  not  by  herself  keep  the 
northern  gate  of  Judaea.     For  behind  her  to  the  south 

^  Judges  XX.  35.  2  ji^(;ts  jj._  i^  xxvi.  11. 

^  Jer.  xxxi.  15.  *  I  Mace.  ix.  50. 


The  Borders  and  Bulwarks  of  Judcea       291 

emerge  the  roads  we  have  already  followed — that  from  the 
Jordan  by  Ai  and  those  from  Ajalon  up  the  gorges  and 
ridge  of  Beth-horon.  The  Ai  route  is  covered  by  Mich- 
mash,  where  the  Philistines  were  encamped  against  Saul 
and  Jonathan/  and  where  the  other  Jewish  hero  who  was 
called  Jonathan — the  Maccabeus — held  for  a  time  his 
headquarters.^  The  Beth-horon  roads  were  covered  by 
Gibeon,^  the  frontier  post  between  David  and  Saul's  house.* 
Between  Michmash  and  Gibeon  there  are  six  miles,  and  on 
these  lie  others  of  the  strong  points  that  stood  forth  in 
the  invasion  and  defence  of  this  frontier  :  Geba,  r^^^  ^^j^^j. 
long  the  limit  of  Judah  to  the  north  ;  ^  Ramah,  fortresses. 
which  Baasha,  king  of  Israel,  built  for  a  blockade  against 
Judah  ;  ^  Adasa,  where  Judas  Maccabeus  pitched  against 
Nicanor,  coming  up  from  Beth-horon.''  These,  with  Mich- 
mash and  Gibeon,  formed  a  line  of  defence  that  was  valid 
against  the  Ajalon  and  Ai  ascents,  as  well  as  against  the 
level  approach  from  the  north. 

The  earlier  invasions  delivered  upon  this  frontier  of 
Judah  are  difficult  to  follow.  Before  it  was  a  frontier  in 
the  days  of  Saul,  the  Philistines  overran  it  either  from 
Ajalon,  or  from  Mount  Ephraim  ;  Saul's  centre  was  in 
Michmash.     Whether,  in  their  attacks  upon  Jerusalem,^ 

1  I  Sam.  xiii.  In  vv.  17,  1 8  the  three  directions  which  the  three  foraging 
bands  of  the  Philistines  took  are  all  plain.  N.  to  Ophrah,  the  city  of 
Ephraim,  Et-Taiyibeh,  W.  to  Beth-horon,  SE.  over  the  ravine  of  Zeboim,  i.e. 
the  Wady  Abu  Duba,  running  NE.  into  W.  Farah,  afterwards  W.  Kelt  (of. 
Neh.  xi.  35),  down  which  there  is  the  name  Shukh  ed  Duba. 

2  Josephus  xiii.  Antt.  i.  6.  ^  Josh.  x.  1-12.  *  2  Sam.  ii.  12,  13. 
^  2  Kings  xxiii.  8.                           ®  i  Kings  xv.  17. 

^  Josephus  xii.  Antt.  x.  5  ;  i  Mace.  vii.  40-45.  Probably  the  present 
Khurbet  Adasa  on  the  road  north  from  Jerusalem.  Schlirer  (Hist.  i.  i,  129) 
prefers  a  site  nearer  Gophna,  because  Eusebius  (Onom.  'Adajd)  says  it  was 
near  Gophna.  But  he  could  so  describe  Khurbet  Adasa,  for  it  is  on  the 
same  road  as  Gophna.  *  2  Kings  xiv.  8,  xvi.  5. 


292    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Joash  or  Rezin  and  Pekah  crossed  it,  it  is  impossible  to 

say  ;  probably  the  latter  at  least  came  up  from  the  Arabah. 

Isaiah  pictures  a  possible  march  this  way  by 

Invasions  ,,  .  r  irurr^  •  TT       ■ 

from  the  the  Assyrians  after  the  fall  of  bamaria.  He  is 
come  upon  Ai ;  inarcheth  tJwough  Migron,  at 
Michmash  musters  his  baggage  ;  they  have  passed  the  Pass; 
'Let  Geba  be  our  bivouac!  Terror-struck  is  Ramah  ;  Gibeah 
of  Saul  hath  fled.  Make  shrill  thy  voice,  O  daughter  of 
Galliiii.  Listen  Laishah,  answer  her  Anathoth ;  in  mad 
flight  is  Madmenah ;  the  dwellei's  in  Gebim  gather  their 
stuff  to  flee.  This  very  day  he  halteth  at  Nob  ;  he  waveth 
his  hand  at  the  mount  of  the  daughter  of  Zion,  the  hill  of 
Jerusalem}  This  is  not  actual  fact — for  the  Assyrian  did 
not  then  march  upon  Zion,  and  when  he  came  twenty 
years  later  it  was  probably  by  the  Beth-horon  or  another 
of  the  western  passes — but  this  was  what  might  have 
happened  any  day  after  the  fall  of  Samaria.  The  prophet 
is  describing  how  easily  the  Assyrian  could  advance  by 
this  open  route  upon  Zion ;  and  yet,  if  he  did,  Jehovah 
would  cut  him  down  in  the  very  sight  of  his  goal.^  All 
the  places  mentioned  are  not  known  ;  and  of  those  that 
are,  some  are  off  the  high-road.  How  Nebuchadnezzar 
came  up  against  Jerusalem  is  not  stated  ;  ^  but  we  can 
follow  the  course  of  subsequent  invasions.  In  the  great 
Syrian  war  in  160  B.C.  Nicanor  and  Bacchides  both 
attempted  the  plateau — the  former  unsuccessfully  by  Beth- 
horon,  the  latter  with  success  from  the  north.  In  64 
Pompey  marched  from  Beth-shan  through  Samaria,  but 
could  not  have  reached  Judaea  had  the  Jews  only  per- 
severed in  their  defence  of  the  passes  of  Mount  Ephraim.* 

^  Isaiah  x.  28-32.  2  jgaiah  x.  32,  33.  ^  2  Kings  xxiv.  10. 

*  But  see  p.  353,  n.  5,  on  another  possible  route  for  Pompey. 


The  Borders  and  Bulwarks  of  Judcea       293 

These  being  left  open,  Pompey  advanced  easily  by  Koreae 
and  Jericho  upon  Bethel,  and  thence  unopposed  to  the  very 
walls  of  Zion.^  In  37  B.C.  Herod  marched  from  the  north 
and  took  Jerusalem.-  In  66  A.D.  Cestius  Gallus  came  up 
by  Beth-horon  and  Gibeon  to  invest  Jerusalem,  but  speedily 
retreated  by  the  same  way.^  In  70,  after  Vespasian  had 
spent  two  years  in  reducing  all  the  strong  places  round 
about  Judaea,  Titus  led  his  legions  to  the  great  siege  past 
Gophna  and  Bethel.  It  seems  to  have  been  by  Pompey's 
route  that  the  forces  of  Islam  came  upon  Jerusalem  ;  they 
met  with  no  resistance  either  in  Ephraim  or  Judah,  and 
the  city  was  delivered  into  their  hands  by  agreement, 
6Z7  A.D. 

In  1099,  the  first  Crusaders  advanced  to  their  successful 
siege  by  Ajalon  ;  in  11 87,  Saladin,  having  conquered  the 
rest  of  the  land,  drew  in  on  the  Holy  City  from  Hebron, 
from  Askalon  and  from  the  north. 

^  xiv.  Antt.  iii.  3.  ^  xiv,  Antt.  xvi.  *  See  p.  2U. 


CHAPTER     XIV 

AN    ESTIMATE   OF 

THE  REAL  STRENGTH  OF  JUD^A 


For  this  ChaJ>i£r  consul  I  Maps  I.  and  IV. 


AN   ESTIMATE  OF  THE  REAL  STRENGTH 
OF   JUD/EA 

HAVING  gone  round  about  Judaea,  and  marked  well 
her  bulwarks,  we  may  now  draw  some  conclusions 
as  to  the  exact  measure  of  her  strength —  jucjsea  not 
physical  and  moral.  Judaea  has  been  called  '^pregnable 
impregnable,  but,  as  we  must  have  seen,  the  adjective 
exaggerates.  To  the  north  she  has  no  frontier ;  her 
southern  border  offers  but  few  obstacles  after  the  desert 
is  passed  ;  with  all  their  difficulties,  her  eastern  and  western 
walls  have  been  carried  again  and  again  ;  and  even  the 
dry  and  intricate  wilderness,  to  which  her  defenders  have 
more  than  once  retired,  has  been  rifled  to  its  farthest 
recesses.  Judaea,  in  fact,  has  been  overrun  as  often  as 
England. 

And  yet,  like  England,  Judasa,  though  not  impregnable, 
has  all  the  advantages  of  insularity.  It  is  singular  how 
much  of  an  island  is  this  inland  province. 
With  the  gulf  of  the  Arabah  to  the  east,  with 
the  desert  to  the  south,  and  lifted  high  and  unattractive 
above  the  line  of  traffic,  which  sweeps  past  her  on  the 
west,  Judaea  is  separated  as  much  as  by  water  from  the 
two  great  continents,  to  both  of  which  she  otherwise 
belongs.  So  open  at  many  points,  the  land  was  yet 
sufficiently  unpromising  and  sufficiently  remote  to  keep 
unprovoked    foreigners    away.       When    they    were    pro- 

297 


298    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


voked    and    did    come    upon    her,    then    they    found    the 

waterlessness  of  her  central  plateau  an  almost  insuperable 

and  difficult  obstacle   to   the  prolonged    sieges,  which  the 

to  occupy,     stubbornness  of  her  people  forced  them  to  make 

against  her  capital  and  other  fortresses.     And  there  was 

this  further  difficulty.     Judaea's  borders  may  all  be  more 

or   less   open,   but   they  are   of  such   a   character   as   to 

compensate  for  each  other's  weakness.     For  an    invader 

might  come  over  one  frontier  and  make  it  his  own ;  but 

the  defeated  nation  could  retreat  upon  any  of  the  others. 

In  the   intricacy  of  these   or   of  the    great    desert,  they 

could  find   ground   on  which   to    rally  and   sweep   back 

upon  the  foe  when   he  was  sufficiently  disheartened  by 

the  barrenness  of  the  plateau  he  had  invaded.      Hence 

we  never  find,  so  far  as  I   know,  any  successful  invasion 

but  one   of  Judaea,  which   was   not   delivered    across   at 

least  three  of  her  borders.     The  exception  was  the  First 

Crusade ;    and    there    is    sufficient    to    account    for    it    in 

the  laxity  of  the  defence  which    it  encountered.      It    is 

very  significant  that  neither  of  the  two  greatest 
The  tactics 

of  Vespasian  invadcrs  of  Judaea,  who  feared  a  real  defence  of 

and  Saladin.  ,      ,  ,  1  •       -n     1 

her  central  plateau,  ventured  upon  this  till  they 
had  mastered  the  rest  of  Palestine,  and  occupied  the 
strongholds  round  the  Judaean  borders.  At  the  interval 
of  more  than  a  millennium,  the  tactics  of  Vespasian  and  of 
Saladin  were  practically  identical.  Vespasian  not  only 
overran  Galilee  and  Samaria,  but  spent  nearly  another 
year  in  taking  and  refortifying  Jamnia,  Ashdod,  and 
Hadida  in  the  west.  Bethel  and  Gophna  to  the  north, 
Jericho  to  the  east,  and  Hebron  with  other  '  Idumaean 
strongholds '  to  the  south,  before  he  let  slip  his  impatient 
legions   upon   Jerusalem.      His   own    officers,  as  well   as 


The  Real  Strength  ofjudcsa  299 

deserters  from  the  city,  urged  him  at  once  to  march  upon 
it,  but  Josephus  says  that  Vespasian  '  was  obliged  at 
first  to  overthrow  what  remained  elsewhere,  and  to  leave 
behind  him  nothing  outside  Jerusalem,  which  might  inter- 
rupt him  in  that  siege  ; '  ^  and  he  closes  the  list  of  the 
Roman  conquests  around  Judaea  with  the  remark,  'now  all 
the  places  were  taken,  except  Herodium,  Masada,  and 
Machserus,  so  Jerusalem  was  now  what  the  Romans  aimed 
at.'  Similarly,  in  1 187,  Saladin,  even  after  his  great  victory 
at  Hattin,  did  not  venture  to  attack  Jerusalem  till  the 
Jordan  Valley,  most  of  the  Maritime  Plain,  with  Askalon 
and  even  Beit-Jibrin,  had  first  fallen  into  his  hands. 
Nothing  could  more  clearly  prove  to  us  that  Jud.nea, 
though  not  impregnable,  was  extremely  difficult  to  take, 
and  that  a  swift  rush  across  one  of  her  borders,  like  that  of 
Cestius  Gallus  in  66  A.D.,  was  sure  to  end  in  disaster.  To 
be  successful,  an  invader  must  master  at  least  three  of  her 
frontiers,  both  to  prevent  the  nation  from  rallying  and  to 
secure  sources  of  supplies. 

To  have  followed  these  campaigns,  the  details  of  which 
are  known  to  us,  is  to  understand  more  clearly  what, 
indeed,  this  province  herself  tells  you  by  mute 

Morcil  effects 

eloquence  of  rock,  mountain  and  desert, —  of  Judaea's 
her  value  to  the  great  people  for  whom 
she  was  shaped  by  the  Creator's  hands.  Judaea  was 
designed  to  produce  in  her  inhabitants  the  sense  of 
seclusion  and  security,  though  not  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
relieve  them  from  the  attractions  of  the  great  world,  which 
throbbed  closely  past,  or  to  relax  in  them  those  habits  of 

^  iv.  Wars,  vii.  3  ;  on  the  capture  of  Janinia  and  Ashdod,  iv.  Wars,  iii.  2  ; 
strongholds  of  Idumcea,  viii.  i  ;  Jericho,  2  ff.  ;  Jericho  and  Hadida,  ix.  i  ; 
Hebron  with  the  unknown  Kaphethra  and  Kepharabis,  9. 


500    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


discipline,  vigilance  and  valour,  which  are  the  necessary 
elements  of  a  nation's  character.  In  the  position  of  Judaea 
there  was  not  enough  to  tempt  her  people  to  put  their 
confidence  in  herself;  but  there  was  enough  to  encourage 
them  to  the  defence  of  their  freedom  and  a  strenuous  life.^ 
And  while  the  isolation  of  their  land  was  sufficient  to  con- 
firm the  truth  of  their  calling  to  a  discipline  and  a  destiny 
separate  from  other  peoples,  it  was  not  so  complete  as  to 
keep  them  in  barbarian  ignorance  of  the  world,  or  to  release 
them  from  those  temptations  to  mix  with  the  world,  in 
combating  which  their  discipline  and  their  destiny  could 
alone  be  realised. 

All  this  receives  exact  illustration  from  both  Psalmists 
and  Prophets.     They  may  rejoice  in  the  fertility  of  their 

Illustrated     land,   but   they   never  boast   of    its   strength. 

from  the        Qj^  ^j^g  Contrary,  of  the  real  measure  of  the 

Prophets  and  ■' ' 

Psalms.  latter  they  show  a  singularly  sagacious  ap- 
preciation. Thus,  Isaiah's  fervid  faith  in  Zion's  inviolable- 
ness  does  not  blind  him  to  the  openness  of  Judah's 
northern  entrance :  it  is  in  one  of  his  passages  of  warmest 
exultation  about  Zion  that  he  describes  the  easy  advance 
of  the  Assyrian  to  her  walls.^  Both  he  and  other  prophets 
frequently  recognise  how  swiftly  the  great  military  powers 
will  overrun  Judah  ;  and  when  they  except  Jerusalem  from 
the  consequences,  it  is  not  because  of  her  natural  strength, 
but  by  their  faith  in  the  direct  intervention  of  God  Himself. 
So  at  last  it  happened.  In  the  great  crisis  of  her  history, 
the  invasion  by  Sennacherib,  Judah  was  saved,  as  England 
was  saved  from  the  Armada,  neither  by  the  strength  of  her 

*  In  the  Least  of  all  Lamb,  Principal  Miller  has  some  very  valuable 
remarks  upon  the  influence  of  the  physical  geography  of  Palestine  upon  the 
character  of  the  people. 

-  Isaiah  x.  32.     See  p.  292  of  this  volume. 


The  Real  Strength  of  Jiid^a  30 1 

bulwarks,  for  they  had  all  been  burst,  nor  by  the  valour  of 
her  men,  for  the  heart  had  gone  from  them,  but  because, 
apart  from  human  help,  God  Himself  crushed  her  insolent 
foes  in  the  moment  of  their  triumph.^ 

Of  all  this  feeling,  perhaps  the  most  concise  expression 
is  found  in  the  Forty-Eighth  Psalm,  where,  though  beautiful 
for  situation  is  Mount  Zion  in  the  sides  of  the  north^  and 
established  for  ever,  it  is  God  Himself  who  is  known  in  her 
palaces  for  a  refuge ;  and  when  the  writer  has  walked 
about  Zion  and  gone  round  about  her,  and  fold  the  towers 
thereof,  marked  zvell  her  bulwarks  and  considered  her 
palaces,  it  is  yet  not  in  all  these  that  he  triumphs,  but  this  is 
the  result  of  his  survey  :  this  God  is  our  God  for  ever  and 
ever,  He  %vill  be  our  Guide  even  unto  death.  Judah  was  not 
impregnable,  but  she  was  better — she  was  in  charge  of  an 
invincible  Providence. 

With  their  admission  of  the  weakness  of  Judah's  position, 
there  runs  through  the  prophets  an  appreciation  of  her 
unattractiveness,  and  that  leads  them,  and  especially 
Isaiah,  to  insist  that  under  God  her  security  lies  in  this 
and  in  her  people's  contentment  with  this.  Though  they 
recognise  how  vulnerable  the  land  is,  the  prophets  main- 
tain that  she  will  be  left  alone  if  her  people  are  quiet  upon 
her,  and  if  her  statesmen  avoid  intrigue  with  the  powers  of 
the  world.  To  the  kings  of  Israel,  to  Ahaz,  to  Hezekiah's 
counsellors,    to   Josiah,   the    same    warnings    are    given :  ^ 

^  See  p.  236.     2  Kings  xviii,  xix.  ;  Isaiah  xxxvii.,  and  probably  xxxiii. 

-  Perhaps  a  phrase  for  the  sacredness  and  inviolableness  of  the  site  ;  but  it 
is  a  remarkable  fact  that,  owing  to  the  strong  sun  (perhaps  also  to  the  geological 
formation),  the  northern  aspect  of  all  hills  in  Western  Palestine  is  more  fruitful 
and  beautiful  than  the  aspect  towards  the  south ;  Ebal  and  Gerizim  are  an 
instance  of  this. 

*  Ahaz,  cf.  2  Kings  xvi,  with  Isaiah  vii. 


302    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Assliur  shall  not  save  us:  zve  ivill  not  ride  upon  horses} 
Woe  to  them  that  go  down  to  Egypt  for  help,  and  stay  on 
horses  and  trust  in  chariots.  In  returning  and  rest  shall 
ye  be  saved:  in  quietness  and  in  confidcjice  shall  be  your 
strength.'^ 

Thus  we  see  how  the  physical  geography  of  Palestine 
not  only  makes  clear  such  subordinate  things  as  the  cam- 
paigns and  migrations  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  signalises 
the  providence  of  God,  the  doctrine  of  His  prophets,  and 
the  character  He  demanded  from  His  people.  It  was  a 
great  lesson  the  Spirit  taught  Israel,  that  no  people  dwells 
secure  apart  from  God,  from  character,  from  common-sense. 
But  the  land  was  the  illustration  and  enforcement  of  this 
lesson.  Judaea  proved,  yet  did  not  exhaust,  nor  tempt 
men  to  feel  that  she  exhausted,  the  will  and  power  of  God 
for  their  salvation.  As  the  writer  of  the  Hundred  and 
Twenty-First  Psalm  feels,  her  hills  were  not  the  answer  to, 
but  the  provocation  of,  the  question.  Whence  cometh  my 
help  ?  and  Jehovah  Himself  was  the  answer.  As  for  her 
prophets,  a  great  part  of  their  sagacity  is  but  the  true 
appreciation  of  her  position.  And  as  for  the  character  of 
her  people,  while  she  gave  them  room  to  be  free  and  to 
worship  God,  and  offered  no  inducement  to  them  to  put 
herself  in  His  place,  she  did  not  wholly  shut  them  off  from 
danger  or  temptation,  for  without  danger  and  temptation 
it  is  impossible  that  a  nation's  character  should  be  strong. 

^  Ilosea  xiv.  3,  cf.  xii.  i.  2  Isaiah  xxxi.  i,  xxx.  15. 


CHAPTER    XV 
THE   CHARACTER   OF   JUD^A 


303 


For  this  Chapter  C07isult  Maps  I.  and  IV. 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  JUDAEA 

WE  have  seen  how  much  of  Judaea  is  borderland,  and 
how  strongly  this  fact  has  determined  her  history. 
But  after  all  it  is  the  plateau,  which  her  bulwarks  so  lift 
and  isolate  from  the  rest  of  Palestine,  that  remains  the 
most  characteristic  part  of  Judaea.  Here  lay  all  her  chief 
towns,  and  here  her  people  were  most  distinctively 
themselves.  This  plateau  is  little  more  than  thirty-five 
miles  long,  from  Bethel  to  the  group  of  cities  south- 
east of  Hebron.  The  breadth  varies  from  fourteen 
to  seventeen,  when  reckoned  from  the  western  edge, 
above  the  valley  that  cuts  off  the  Shephelah,  to  where 
on  the  east  the  level  drops  below  1700  feet  and  into 
desert. 

The  greater  part  of  the  Judsean  plateau  consists  of  stony 
moorland,  upon  which  rough  scrub  and  thorns,  reinforced 
by  a  few  dwarf  oaks,  contend  with  multitudes  t-,    t  , 

■>  '  1  he  Juitean 

of  boulders,  and  the  limestone,  as  if  impatient  Tabie-iand. 
of  the  thin  pretence  of  soil,  breaks  out  in  bare  scalps  and 
prominences.  There  are  some  patches  of  cultivation,  but 
though  the  grain  springs  bravely  from  them,  they  seem 
more  beds  of  shingle  than  of  soil.  The  only  other  signs 
of  life,  besides  the  wild  bee  and  a  few  birds,  are  flocks 
of  sheep  and  goats,  or  a  few  cattle,  cropping  far  apart  in 

U 


3o6   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

melancholy  proof  of  the  scantiness  of  the  herbage.  Where 
the  plateau  rolls,  the  shadeless  slopes  are  for  the  most  part 
divided  between  brown  scrub  and  grey  rock  ;  the  hollows 
are  stony  fields  traversed  by  dry  torrent-beds  of  dirty 
boulders  and  gashed  clay.  Where  the  plateau  breaks,  low 
ridge  and  shallow  glen  are  formed,  and  the  ridge  is  often 
crowned  by  a  village,  of  which  the  grey  stone  walls  and 
mud  roofs  look  from  the  distance  like  a  mere  outcrop  of 
the  rock  ;  yet  round  them,  or  below  in  the  glen,  there  will 
be  olive-groves,  figs,  and  perhaps  a  few  terraces  of  vines. 
Some  of  these  breaks  in  the  table-land  are  very  rich  in 
vegetation,  as  at  Bethany,  the  Valley  of  Hinnom,  the 
Gardens  of  Solomon  and  other  spots  round  Bethlehem, 
and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hebron,  the  famous  Vale  of 
Eshcol  or  Vine  Cluster.  And  again  between  Hebron  and 
the  wilderness  there  are  nine  miles  by  three  of  plateau, 
where  the  soil  is  almost  free  from  stones,  and  the  fair,  red 
and  green  fields,  broken  by  a  few  heathy  mounds,  might  be 
a  scene  of  upland  agriculture  in  our  own  country.^  This  is 
where  Ma'on,  Ziph,  and  the  Judsean  Carmel  lay  with  the 
farms  of  Nabal,  on  which  David  and  his  men,  like  the 

^  'At  2.30  we  left  Hebron.  Rough  limestone  country.  Paths  execrable, 
slippery  rock  and  rolling  stones.  In  an  hour  we  came  out  on  the  Ziph- 
Maon-Carmel  plateau,  very  like  a  bit  of  higher  and  less  fertile  Aberdeenshire 
— rolling  red  ground,  mostly  bare,  partly  wheat  and  barley,  broken  by  lime- 
stone scalps  partly  covered  by  scrub,  and  honeycombed  by  caves.  We  came 
on  this  at  Tell  Zif  (Ziph),  cantered  across  it  one  and  a  half  hours  to  Kurmul, 
with  ruins  of  Crusaders'  Castle,  large  bright  blue  pool  below.  Black 
Bedawee  tents  near.  Thence  a  twenty  minutes'  canter  to  Ma'an  through  barley- 
fields.  The  view  from  Maon  is  very  extensive.  The  fine  plateau  spreads 
due  N.,  higher  hills  sweep  round  two  sides  from  SW.  to  NE.  ;  due  N.  at  the 
mouth  of  an  opening  through  them  is  Hebron  with  its  white  buildings,  the 
mosque  clear  through  a  glass.  WNW.  Yuttah  on  a  peak,  NE.  Beni  Nain. 
E.  a  decisive  fall  of  about  400  feet  from  the  cultivated  land  to  the  desert, 
and  thence  Jeshimon,  rolling  hills  and  irregular  ridges  backed  by  the  range 
of  Moab.' — Extract  from  Diary, 


The  Character  of  J u  dee  a  307 

Bedouin  of  to-day,  levied  blackmail  from  Horeshah  in  the 
wilderness  below.^ 

But  the  prevailing  impression  of  Judaea  is  of  stone — the 
torrent-beds,  the  paths  that  are  no  better,  the  heaps  and 
heaps  of  stones  gathered  from  the  fields,  the  j^^  {^^n^.^^. 
fields  as  stony  still,  the  moors  strewn  with  lessness. 
boulders,  the  obtrusive  scalps  and  ribs  of  the  hills.  In  the 
more  desolate  parts,  which  had  otherwise  been  covered 
with  scrub,  this  impression  is  increased  by  the  ruins  of 
ancient  cultivation — cairns,  terrace-walls,  and  vineyard 
towers. 

Now  if  you  aggravate  this  stony  appearance  by  two 
other  deficiencies  of  feature,  you  will  feel  to  the  full  that 
dreariness  which  most  bring  away  with  them  as  their  whole 
memory  of  Judaea.  First,  there  is  no  water.  No  tarns 
break  here  into  streams  and  quicken  the  landscape,  as  they 
quicken  even  the  most  desolate  moors  of  our  north,  but  at 
noon  the  cattle  go  down  by  dusty  paths  to  some  shadow- 
less gorge,  where  the  glare  is  only  broken  by  the  black 
mouth  of  a  cistern  with  troughs  round  it.  On  the  whole 
plateau  the  only  gleams  of  water  are  the  pools  at  Gibeon, 
Jerusalem,  Bethlehem,  Hebron,  and  I  do  not  suppose  that 
from  Bethel  to  Beersheba  there  are,  even  in  spring-time, 
more  than  six  or  seven  tiny  rills.  No  water  to  soothe  the 
eye,  there  are  no  great  hills  to  lift  it.  The  horizon  has  no 
character  or  edge.     Of  course  from  the  western  boundary 


ntJ'in3:  E.  V.  in  theivood,  i  Sam.  xxiii.  15.  But  this  rendering  implies  both 
a  very  unusual  grammatical  form,  and  a  wood,  or  even  thicket,  if  it  existed  in 
these  desert  regions,  would  be  too  prominent  to  be  used  as  a  hiding-place.  The 
LXX.  understood  a  proper  name,  though  they  spelt  it  differently  (Josephus 
follows  LXX.).  Conder  discovered  south-east  of  Ziph,  and  in  the  desert,  the 
Ruin  Khoreisa  and  the  Wady  Abu  Hirsh,  in  both  of  which  he  sees  the  name 
Horeshah,  T.W.,  243  f. 


3o8   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Lafid 

of  the  plateau  you  see  the  blue  ocean  with  its  border  of 
broken  gold,  and  from  the  eastern  boundary  the  Moab 
Hills,  that  change  their  colours  all  day  long  above  the 
changeless  blue  of  the  Dead  Sea.  But,  in  the  centre  of 
the  hill-country  of  Judsa,  there  is  nothing  to  look  to  past 
the  featureless  roll  of  the  moorland,  and  the  low  blunt 
hills  with  the  flat-roofed  villages. 

Was  the  land  always  like  this  ?  For  answer,  we  have 
three  portraits  of  ancient  Judah.  The  first  is  perhaps 
the  most  voluptuous  picture  in  the  Old  Testament :  ^ 

Binding  to  the  vine  his  foal 

A7id  to  the  choice  vine  his  ass^s  colt, 

He  hath  tuashed  in  wine  his  raiment, 

Ajtd  in  the  blood  of  the  grape  his  vesture  : 

— Heavy  in  the  eyes  from  wine. 

And  white  of  teeth  from  milk. 

This  might  be  the  portrait  of  a  Bacchus  breaking  from 

the  vineyards  of  Sicily ;  but  of  Judah  we  can   scarcely 

believe  it,  as  we  stand  in  his  land  to-day.     And 

Old  Testament 

portraits  yet  On  those  long,  dry  slopes  with  their  rumed 

terraces — no  barer  than  the  banks  of  Rhine 
in  early  spring — and  even  more  in  the  rich  glens  around 
Hebron  and  Bethlehem,  where  the  vine  has  been  preserved,- 
we  perceive  still  the  possibilities  of  such  a  portrait.  Heavy 
in  the  eyes  from  zvine,  and  lie  hath  washed  in  zvine  his 
raiment — but  Judah  has  lost  his  eyes,  and  his  raiment  is 
in  rags.  The  Judsean  landscape  of  to-day  is  liker  the 
second  portrait    which    Isaiah   drew  in    prospect   of  the 

^  Gen.  xlix. 

"  Until  the  recent  revival  of  vineyards  by  foreigners,  Hebron  and  Bethle- 
hem were  almost  the  only  places  in  the  Holy  Land  where  wine  was  made. 
The  grapes  of  Es-Salt  have  always  been  turned  into  raisins. 


The  Character  of  Judcea  309 

Assyrian  invasion.  In  that  day  shall  the  Lord  shave,  wit  i 
a  razor  that  is  hired,  the  head  and  the  hair  of  the  feet  and 
the  beard.  And  it  shall  be  in  that  day,  a  man  shall  nourish 
a  young  cow  and  a  couple  of  sheep  ;  and  it  shall  be,  because 
of  the  abwidance  of  the  makijig  of  milk,  he  shall  eat  butter, 
— for  butter  and  honey  shall  everything  eat  which  is  left  in 
the  midst  of  the  land.  And  it  shall  be  in  that  day,  that 
every  place  iji  ivhich  there  tvere  a  tliousand  vines  at  a 
thousand  silverlijigs — for  briars  and  for  thorjis  shall  it  be. 
.  .  .  And  all  the  hills  that  were  digged  with  the  mattock, 
thou  shalt  not  come  thither  for  fear  of  briars  and  thorns  ; 
but  it  shall  be  for  the  sending  forth  of  oxen  and  for  the  tread- 
ing of  sheep)-  With  the  exceptions  named  above,  this  is 
exactly  the  Judah  of  to-day.  But  we  have  a  third  portrait, 
by  the  prophet  J«;remiah,^  of  what  Judah  should  be  after 
the  Restoration  from  Exile,  and  in  this  it  is  remarkable 
that  no  reversion  is  promised  to  a  high  state  of  cultivation, 
with  olives  and  vines  as  the  luxuriant  features  of  the 
country,  but  that  her  permanent  wealth  and  blessing  are 
conceived  as  pastoral.  .  .  .  For  I  will  bring  again  the 
captivity  of  the  land  as  in  the  beginning,  saith  fehovah. 
Thus  saith  fehovah  of  Hosts :  Again  shall  there  be  in  this 
place — the  Desolate,  without  man  or  eveti  beast — and  in  all 
its  cities,  the  habitation  of  shepherds  couching  their  flocks. 
In  the  cities  of  the  Mountain,  or  Hill- Country,  of  fudah, 
in  the  cities  of  the  Shephelah,  and  in  the  cities  of  the  Negeb, 
and  in  the  latid  of  Benjamin,  and  in  the  suburbs  of  feru- 
salem,  and  in  the  cities  of  fudah,  again  shall  the  flocks  pass 
upon  the  hands  of  him  that  tclleth  them,  saith  fehovah. 
Now,  though  other  prospects  of  the  restoration  of  Judah 

^  Isa.  vii.  20  ff. 

^  Jer.  xxxiii.  12,  13.     The  passage  begins  with  ver.  10. 


3IO   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

include  husbandry  and  vine  culture/  and  though  the  Jews 
after  the  Exile  speak  of  their  property  as  vineyards,  olive- 
yards  and  cornland,  along  with  sheep,-  yet  the  prevailing 
aspect  of  Judah  is  pastoral,  and  the  fulfilment  of  Jacob's 
luscious  blessing  must  be  sought,  for  in  the  few  fruitful 
corners  of  the  land,  and  especially  at  Hebron.  As  Judah's 
first  political  centre,  Hebron  would  in  the  time  of  her 
supremacy  be  the  obvious  model  for  the  nation's  ideal 
figure.^ 

But  this  has  already  brought  us  to  the  first  of  those 
three  features  of  Judaea's  geography  which  are  most  sig- 
nificant in  her  history — her  pastoral  character. 

Three  chcir- 

acteristics  of  her  neighbourhood  to  the  desert,  her  singular 
*^'         unsuitableness  for  the  growth  of  a  great  city. 
With  these  the  rest  of  this  chapter  will  be  occupied. 

I.  If,  as  we  have  seen,  the  prevailing  character  of  Judaea 
be  pastoral,  with  husbandry  only  incidental  to  her  life,  it 
I  A  Land  of  ^^  "°^  surprising  that  the  forms  which  have 
Shepherds.  impressed  both  her  history  and  her  religion 
upon  the  world  should  be  those  of  the  pastoral  habit.    Her 

^  Alicah  iv.  4  and  I  Kings  iv.  25  give  the  ideal  state,  as  every  man  under 
his  own  vine  and  fig-ti-ee.  Jeremiah  (xxxi.  24)  in  his  picture  of  the  future, 
places  husbandmen  before  them  that  go  forth  with  flocks.  Habakkuk  puts 
vines,  figs,  and  olives  before  flocks,  iii.  17.  Isaiah  (Ixv.  10)  says,  Sharon  shall 
be  a  fold  of  flocks,  and  the  valley  of  Achor  a  place  for  herds  to  conch,  for  Aly 
people  that  have  sought  Me;  but  in  ver.  21,  they  shall  plant  vineyards,  cf. 
Isaiah  Ixi.  5,  strangers  shall  stand  and  feed  your  flocks,  and  the  sons  of  the 
alien  shall  be  your  plotvmen  atid  vine-dressers. 

-  Nehemiah  v.  Haggai  speaks  only  of  husbandry.  Malachi  sees  both 
flocks  and  vines.  Joel  catalogues  corn,  wine  and  oil,  figs,  pomegranates, 
palms,  and  apples  (chap.  i.).  With  him  cattle  and  herds  are  in  the  back- 
ground.    New  wine  and  milk  are  the  blessings  of  the  future,  iii.  18. 

^  One  is  tempted  to  ask  whether  any  inference  as  to  the  date  of  Gen.  xlix. 
can  be  drawn  from  its  representation  of  Judah  as  chiefly  a  wine-growing 
country  ;  but  I  do  not  think  any  such  inference  would  be  at  all  trustworthy, 
as  may  be  seen  from  a  comparison  of  the  passages  cited  in  the  above  notes. 


The  Character  of  JudcBa  311 

origin  ;  more  than  once  her  freedom  and  power  of  political 
recuperation  ;  more  than  once  her  prophecy ;  her  images 
of  God,  and  her  sweetest  poetry  of  the  spiritual  life,  have 
been  derived  from  this  source.  It  is  the  stateliest  shepherds 
of  all  time  whom  the  dawn  of  history  reveals  upon  her 
fields — men  not  sprung  from  her  own  remote  conditions, 
nor  confined  to  them,  but  moving  across  the  world  in 
converse  with  great  empires,  and  bringing  down  from 
heaven  truths  sublime  and  universal  to  wed  with  the 
simple  habits  of  her  life.  These  were  the  patriarchs  of 
the  nation.  The  founder  of  its  one  dynasty,  and  the  first 
of  its  literary  prophets,  were  also  taken  from  following  the 
flocks}  The  king  and  every  true  leader  of  men  was  called 
a  shepherd.  Jehovah  was  the  Shepherd  of  His  people, 
and  they  the  sheep  of  His  pasture.  It  was  in  Judaea  that 
Christ  called  Himself  the  Good  Shepherd,  as  it  was  in 
Judaea  also  that,  taking  the  other  great  feature  of  her  life, 
He  said  He  was  the  True  Vine.^ 

Judaea,  indeed,  offers  as  good  ground  as  there  is  in  all 
the  East  for  observing  the  grandeur  of  the  shepherd's 
character.  On  the  boundless  Eastern  pasture,  so  different 
from  the  narrow  meadows  and  dyked  hillsides  with  which 
we  are  familiar,  the  shepherd  is  indispensable.  With  us, 
sheep  are  often  left  to  themselves ;  but  I  do  not  re- 
member ever  to  have  seen  in  the  East  a  flock  of  sheep 
without  a  shepherd.  In  such  a  landscape  as  Judaea,  where 
a  day's  pasture  is  thinly  scattered  over  an  unfenced  tract 
of  country,  covered  with  delusive  paths,  still  frequented  by 
wild  beasts,  and  rolling  off  into  the  desert,  the  man  and 
his   character   are   indispensable.     On   some   high   moor, 

^  2  Sam.  vii.  8  ;  Amos  vii.  15. 

^  Stanley,  Sinai  and  Palestine,  xiii. 


312   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

across  which  at  night  the  hyenas  howl,  when  you  meet 
him,  sleepless,  far-sighted,  weather-beaten,  armed,  leaning 
on  his  staff,  and  looking  out  over  his  scattered  sheep, 
every  one  of  them  on  his  heart,  you  understand  why  the 
shepherd  of  Judsea  sprang  to  the  front  in  his  people's 
history ;  why  they  gave  his  name  to  their  king,  and  made 
him  the  symbol  of  Providence  ;  why  Christ  took  him  as 
the  type  of  self-sacrifice. 

Sometimes  we  enjoyed  our  noonday  rest  beside  one  of 
those  Judsean  wells,  to  which  three  or  four  shepherds  come 
down  with  their  flocks.  The  flocks  mixed  with  each  other, 
and  we  wondered  how  each  shepherd  would  get  his  own 
again.  But  after  the  watering  and  the  playing  were  over, 
the  shepherds  one  by  one  went  up  different  sides  of  the 
valley,  and  each  called  out  his  peculiar  call ;  and  the  sheep 
of  each  drew  out  of  the  crowd  to  their  own  shepherd,  and 
the  flocks  passed  away  as  orderly  as  they  came.  The 
shepherd  of  the  sheep,  .  .  .  when  he  putteth  forth  his  own 
sheep,  he  goeth  before  them,  and  the  sheep  follow  him,  for 
they  know  his  voice,  and  a  stranger  will  they  not  follow.  I 
am  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  hioiv  My  sheep,  and  am  known 
of  Mine.     These  words  our  Lord  spake  in  Judsea. 

2.  With  the  pastoral  character  of  the  hill-country  of 
Judaea  we  may  take  its  neighbourhood  to  the  desert — the 
2.  Neighbour  wilderness  of  Judaea.  In  the  Old  Testament 
to  the  desert.  ^]^jg  \-ds\^  is  Called  the  Jcsliimon,  a  word  mean- 
ing devastation'^  and  no  term  could  better  suit  its  haggard 
and  crumbling  appearance.  It  covers  some  thirty-five 
miles  by  fifteen.     We  came   upon  it  from    Maon.     The 

1  In  Deut.  xxxii.  lo,  it  is  applied  to  the  great  Arabian  Desert,  from  which 
God  brought  Israel,  the  waste  and  howling  wilderness,  |"l?D''tJ'''  ??''1  inn- 
See  p.  86. 


The  Character  ofjzid^a  313 

cultivated  land  to  the  east  of  Hebron  sinks  quickly  to 
rolling  hills  and  waterless  vales,  covered  by  broom  and 
grass,  across  which  it  took  us  all  forenoon  to  ride.  The 
wells  are  very  few,  and  almost  all  cisterns  of  rain-water, 
jealously  guarded  through  the  summer  by  their  Arab 
owners.^  For  an  hour  or  two  more  we  rode  up  and  down 
steep  ridges,  each  barer  than  the  preceding,  and  then 
descended  rocky  slopes  to  a  wide  plain,  where  -pj^^  wiider- 
we  left  behind  the  last  brown  grass  and  thistle  ;  ness  of  Judaea, 
the  last  flock  of  goats  we  had  passed  two  hours  before. 
Short  bushes,  thorns,  and  succulent  creepers  were  all  that 
relieved  the  brown  and  yellow  bareness  of  the  sand,  the 
crumbling  limestone,  and  scattered  shingle.  The  strata 
were  contorted  ;  ridges  ran  in  all  directions ;  distant  hills 
to  north  and  south  looked  like  gigantic  dust-heaps ;  those 
near  we  could  see  to  be  torn  as  if  by  waterspouts.  When 
we  were  not  stepping  on  detritus,  the  limestone  was 
blistered  and  peeling.  Often  the  ground  sounded  hollow ; 
sometimes  rock  and  sand  slipped  in  large  quantity  from 
the  tread  of  the  horses  ;  sometimes  the  living  rock  was 
bare  and  jagged,  especially  in  the  frequent  gullies,  that 
therefore  glowed  and  beat  with  heat  like  furnaces.  Far 
to  the  east  ran  the  Moab  hills,  and  in  front  of  them  we  got 
glimpses  of  the  Dead  Sea,  the  deep  blue  of  which  was  a 
most  refreshing  sight  across  the  desert  foreground.  So  we 
rode  for  two  hours,  till  the  sea  burst  upon  us  in  all  its 
length,  and  this  chaos,  which  we  had  traversed,  tumbled 
and  broke,  down  1200  feet  of  limestone,  flint  and  marl — 
crags,  corries  and  precipices — to  the  broad  beach  of  the 
water.     Such  is  Jeshimon,  the  wilderness  of  Judaea.     It 

^  The  P.  E.  F.  Survey  map  shows  that  almost  the  only  names  in  this  part 
of  Judsea  are  compounded  with  Bir,  'cistern.' 


314   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

carries  the  violence  and  desolation  of  the  Dead  Sea  Valley- 
right  up  to  the  heart  of  the  country,  to  the  roots  of  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  to  within  two  hours  of  the  gates  of 
Hebron,  Bethlehem,  and  Jerusalem. 

When  you  realise  that  this  howling  waste  came  within 
reach  of  nearly  every  Jewish  child  ;  when  you  climb  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  or  any  hill  about  Bethlehem,  or  the  hill 
of  Tekoa,  and,  looking  east,  see  those  fifteen  miles  of 
chaos,  sinking  to  a  stretch  of  the  Dead  Sea,  you  begin  to 
understand  the  influence  of  the  desert  on  Jewish  imagina- 
tion and  literature.  It  gave  the  ancient  natives  of  Judaea, 
as  it  gives  the  mere  visitor  of  to-day,  the  sense  of  living 
next  door  to  doom  ;  the  sense  of  how  narrow  is  the  border 
between  life  and  death ;  the  awe  of  the  power  of  God, 
who  can  make  contiguous  regions  so  opposite  in  character. 
He  turneth  rivers  into  a  wilderness,  and  ivatersprings  into 
a  thirsty  ground.  The  desert  is  always  in  face  of  the 
prophets,  and  its  howling  of  beasts  and  its  dry  sand 
blow  mournfully  across  their  pages  the  foreboding  of 
judgment. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  influence  of  the  desert.  Meteoric 
effects  are  nowhere  in  Palestine  so  simple  or  so  brilliant. 
And  there  is  the  annual  miracle,  when,  after  the  winter 
rains,  even  these  wastes  take  on  a  glorious  green.  Hence 
the  sudden  rushes  of  light  and  life  across  the  projDhet's 
vision;  it  is  from  the  desert  that  he  mostly  borrows  his 
imagery  of  the  creative,  instantaneous  Divine  grace.  The 
wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  shall  be  glad  for  them  :  the 
desert  shall  rejoice,  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 

Two,  at  least,  of  the  prophets  were  born  in  face  of 
the  wilderness  of  Judaea — Amos  and  Jeremiah — and  on 
both  it  has  left  its  fascination.     Amos  lived  to  the  south 


The  Chai'acter  of  Juda:a  315 

of  Jerusalem,  at  Tekoa.  No  one  can  read  his  book  with- 
out feeling  that  he  haunted  heights,  and  lived  in  the  face 
of  very  wide  horizons.  But  from  Tekoa  you  p^^^^^  ^^^ 
see  the  exact  scenery  of  his  visions.  The  Tekoa. 
slopes  on  which  Amos  herded  his  cattle  show  the  mass  of 
desert  hills  with  their  tops  below  the  spectator,  and  there- 
fore displaying  every  meteoric  effect  in  a  way  they  could 
not  have  done  had  he  been  obliged  to  look  up  to  them. 
The  cold  wind  that  blows  off  them  after  sunset ;  through 
a  gap  the  Dead  Sea,  with  its  heavy  mists ;  beyond  the 
gulf  the  range  of  Moab,  cold  and  grey,  till  the  sun  leaps 
from  behind  his  barrier,  and  in  a  moment  the  world  of 
hill-tops  below  Tekoa  is  flooded  with  light — that  was  the 
landscape  of  Amos.  Lo,  He  that  formeth  the  mountains, 
and  createth  the  ivind,  and  declareth  unto  man  what  is  his 
thought ;  that  maketh  the  morning  darkness,  and  treadeth 
071  the  high  places  of  tJie  earth,  fehovah,  God  of  Hosts,  is  His 
name  ;  that  maketh  the  Seven  Stars  and  Orion,  and  turneth 
the  shadow  of  death  into  morning,  and  maketh  the  day  dark 
with  night ;  that  callethfor  the  zvaters  of  the  sea,  and poureth 
them  out  on  the  face  of  the  earth — fehovah  is  His  name. 

Jeremiah  grew  up  at  Anathoth,  a  little  to  the  north-east 
of  Jerusalem,  across  Scopus,  and  over  a  deep  valley.  It  is 
the  last  village  eastward,  and  from  its  site  the  Jeremiah  and 
land  falls  away  in  broken,  barren  hills  to  the  Anathoth. 
north  end  of  the  Dead  Sea.  The  vision  of  that  desert 
maze  was  burnt  into  the  prophet's  mind,  and  he  contrasted 
it  with  the  clear,  ordered  Word  of  God.  O  generation,  see 
y  e  the  zvord  of  the  Lord :  Have  I  been  a  wilderness  unto 
Israel,  a  land  of  darkness  ?  ^  He  had  lived  in  face  of  the 
scorching  desert  air — A  dry  zvind  of  the  high  pla  ces  in  the 

^  Jer.  ii.  31. 


o 


1 6   The  Histo7'ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


wilderness  toivard  the  daughter  of  My  people,  not  to  fan 
nor  to  cleanse.  And  in  face  of  the  chaotic  prospect,  he 
described  judgment  in  these  terms  :  /  beheld  the  earth,  aiid 
lo,  it  was  without  form  and  void  .  .  .  I  beheld,  and  lo,  the 
fruitfid  place  was  a  wilderness  .  .  .  at  the  presence  of 
fehovah,  by  His  fierce  anger?- 

But  the  wilderness  affected  Judaea  by  more  than  its 
neighbourhood.  There  can  be  Httle  doubt  but  that  the 
more  austere  and  fanatic  temper  of  the  Jew  was  begotten 
in  him  by  the  absorption  of  such  desert  tribes  as  the 
Kenites.  Israel  was  everywhere  a  mixed  race,  but  while 
in  Samaria  and  Galilee  the  foreign  constituents  were  mostly 
Canaanite,  in  Judaea  they  were  mostly  Arabian.^ 

The  wilderness  of  Judaea  played  also  a  great  part  in  her 

history  as  the  refuge  of  political  fugitives  and  religious 

solitaries  —  a    part    which    it    still    continues. 

The  wilder-  r   r-       n      i  r  t^       •  i 

ness  as  a       The  story  of  Saul  s  hunt  after  David,  and  of 

rcfusTs 

David's  narrow  escapes,  becomes  very  vivid 
among  those  tossed  and  broken  hills,  where  the  valleys 
are  all  alike,  and  large  bodies  of  men  may  camp  near 
each  other  without  knowing  it.  Ambushes  are  everywhere 
possible,  and  alarms  pass  rapidly  across  the  bare  and  silent 
hills.  You  may  travel  for  hours,  and  feel  as  solitary  as  at 
sea  without  a  sail  in  sight ;  but  if  you  are  in  search  of  any 
one,  your  guide's  signal  will  make  men  leap  from  slopes 
that  did  not  seem  to  shelter  a  rabbit,  and  if  you  are 
suspected,  your  passage  may  be  stopped  by  a  dozen  men, 
as  if  they  had  sprung  from  the  earth.^ 

We  cannot  pass  from  the  wilderness  of  Judaea  without 
remembering  two  more  holy  events  of  which  it  was  the 
scene.     Here  John  was  prepared  for  his  austere  mission, 

^  Jer.  iv.  II,  23,  26.  -  Wellhausen,  Dc  Getitibtis,  etc.         ^  See  p.  272  f. 


The  Character  of  Jud^a 


jv 


and  found  his  figures  of  judgment.  Here  you  understand 
his  own  description  of  his  preaching — Hke  a  desert  fire 
when  the  brown  grass  and  thorns  on  the  more  j^j^^  Baptist 
fertile  portions  will  blaze  for  miles,  and  the  ■'^nd  Chnst. 
unclean  reptiles  creep  out  of  their  holes  before  its  heat : 
O  generation  of  vipers,  zvko  hath  taught  you  to  flee  from  the 
wrath  to  come  ?  And  here  our  Lord  suffered  His  tempta- 
tion. Straighizuay  the  Spirit  driveth  Him  into  the  wilder- 
ness. For  hours,  as  you  travel  across  these  hills,  you  may 
feel  no  sign  of  life,  except  the  scorpions  and  vipers  which 
your  passage  startles,  in  the  distance  a  few  wild  goats  or 
gazelles,  and  at  night  the  wailing  of  the  jackal  and  the 
hyena's  howl.     He  zvas  alone  zuith  the  zvild  beasts. 

3.  But  the  most  impressive  fact  about  Judzea — at  least 
in  face  of  her  history — is  her  natural  unfitness  for  the 
growth  of  a  great  city. 

All   the   townships    of    Jud?ea    were   either   fortresses, 
shrines,   or    country    villages.     The    fortresses   we    have 
already  seen   on  the   borders,  chiefly  on   the     ^  judcea's 
west  and  north.    And  on  the  western  border  we     J'^e'^growth ' 
have  seen  one  of  the  shrines — Kiriath  Jearim,     °^  ^  '^''y- 
or  Baalath-Jehuda.     The  agricultural  townships  lay  chiefly 
on  the  east, — Tekoa  and  the  group  of  cities  on  the  fertile 
plateau  south-east  of  Hebron,^     But  up  the  centre  of  the 
plateau  ran  a  road,  and  all  the  places  of  greatest  import- 
ance  lay   upon    it — Beersheba,  Kiriath    Sepher,  Hebron, 
Bethlehem,  Jerusalem,  and  Bethel.     Of  these,  Beersheba 
(as  we  have  seen),  Hebron,  and  Bethel  were 
sanctuaries  long  before  Israel  entered  the  land; 
and    Jerusalem,    from    the    earliest    times,    had    been    a 
fortress  and  probably  also  a  shrine.     Hebron  and  Beth- 

^  Eshtemoa',  Ma'on,  Carmel,  Juttah,  Zipli,  Januah,  etc. 


3 1 8   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

lehem,  the  two  earliest  seats  of  Judah,  have  the  greatest 
natural  possibilities.  Ancient  Hebron  lay  on  a  hill  to  the 
north-west  of  the  present  site  ;  it  commands  an  entrance 
to  the  higher  plateau,  and  it  is  within  hail  of  the  desert, 
which  means  trade  with  Arabs.  The  valleys  about  it  are 
very  fruitful.  Like  so  many  ancient  towns,  Hebron  must 
have  combined  the  attractions  of  a  market  and  a  shrine.^ 

Beth-lehem-Ephratah  was  no  shrine,  but,  as  its  double 

name  implies,  it  lies  in  the  midst  of  a  district  of  great 

fertility,  with  water  not  far  away.^     The  posi- 

Beth-lehem.      .         .  -111  i 

tion  IS  one  of  considerable  strength,  and  not 
far  from  that  citadel  which  Herod  the  Great  made  famous 
under  his  own    name.      Beth-lehem,   indeed,  though  too 

^  The  origin  of  Hebron  is  obscure.  In  the  Hexateuch  it  is  mentioned  by 
all  the  documents.  First  J  informs  us  that  its  earlier  name  was  Kiriath 
Arba',  and  Kaleb  drave  from  it  three  sons  of  'Anak,  Sheshai,  Ahiman, 
Tolmai  (Judges  i.  10,  20 ;  Num.  xiii.  22  ;  cf.  Josh.  xv.  4.  According  to 
Josh.  xi.  21,  Joshua  had  cut  off  the  Anakim  from  Hebron).  J  also  tells  us 
that  Hebron  was  built  seven  years  before  Zoan  (Num.  xiii.  22),  but  which 
building  of  Zoan  ?  J  mentions  the  terebinths  of  Mamre,  but  does  not  identify 
them  with  Hebron  (Gen.  xiii.  18,  xviii.  i).  E  confirms  J  :  Hebron  was  earlier 
called  Kiriath  [city  of)  'Arba^  :  he  was  the  mightiest  man  among  the  Anakim 
(Josh.  xiv.  15).  A  verse  assigned  to  the  Redactor  calls  Arba'  the  father  of 
Anak  (Josh.  xv.  13  ;  cf.  xxi.  ii).  E  also  puts  Vale  of  Eshcol  near  Hebron 
(Num.  xiii.  23).  P  identifies  Kiriath  Arba'  and  Hebron  (Gen.  xxiii.  2, 
Josh.  XX.  7,  a  city  of  refuge;  cf.  xxi.  13);  it  also  identifies  Mamre  (the 
sacred  terebinths  of  which  it  does  not  mention)  with  Hebron  (Gen.  xxiii.  19, 
etc.,  xxxv.  27.  According  to  xxv.  9,  xlix.  30,  1.  13,  Macpelah  lies  in  front 
of  Mamre).  In  Gen.  xxxv.  27,  'Arba*  bears  the  article,  City  of  the  'Arba^, 
or  of  the  Four,  and  so  in  Neh.  xi.  25.  In  Gen.  xiv.'  13,  24,  a  chapter  not 
assignable  to  any  of  the  documents,  Mamre  is  called  the  Amorite  and 
brother  to  Eshcol  and  Aner.  In  Samuel,  Kings,  Chronicles,  Hebron  is  the 
only  name  given  to  the  city  : — i  Sam.  xxx.  31,2  Sam.  ii.  i,  etc.  ;  iii.  2,  32 ; 
iv.  1-12,  v.  1-13  ;  XV.  7,  10,  Absalom's  vow  in  Hebron,  and  his  revolt  there  ; 

1  Chron.  ii.  42,  Mareshah,  father  of  Hebron,  43,  Korah,  Tappuah,  Rekem, 
Shema,    sons  of  Hebron ;  vi.    55,    57,    Hebron   given  to   sons  of  Aaron  ; 

2  Chron.  xi.  10,  fortified  by  Rehoboam ;  I  Mace.  v.  65,  destroyed  by  Judas 
in  campaign  against  Edomites. 

2  Mr.  Tomkins  {P.E.F.Q.,  1885,  112)  suggests  that  Beth-lehem  was 
originally  the  sacred  place  of  Lakhmu,  a  Chaldean  god  of  fertility  (Smith, 


The  Character  of  Judcea  3 1 9 

little  to  be  placed  among  the  families  of  Judah,  is  the  finest 
site  in  the  whole  province. 

Yet  neither  Beth-lehem  nor  Hebron,  nor  any  other 
part  of  that  plateau,  bears  tokens  of  civic  promise. 
Throughout  Judsea  these  are  absolutely  lacking.  She  has 
no  harbours,  no  river,  no  great  trunk-road,  no  convenient 
market  for  the  nations  on  either  side  of  her.  In  their 
commerce  with  each  other,  these  pass  by  Judaea,  finding 
their  emporiums  in  the  cities  of  Philistia,  or,  as  of  old,  at 
Petra  and  Bosra  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan.  Gaza  has 
outdone  Hebron  as  the  port  of  the  desert.  Jerusalem  is 
no  match  for  Shechem  in  fertility  or  convenience  of  site. 
The  whole  plateau  stands  aloof,  waterless,  on  the  road  to 
nowhere.  There  are  none  of  the  natural  conditions  of  a 
great  city. 

And  yet  it  was  here  that  She  arose  who,  more  than 
Athens   and  more  than   Rome,  taught  the  nations  civic 


Chald.  Genesis,  58,  60),  and  compares  Lahmi  (i  Chron.  xx.  5)-  Lahmam, 
the  present  El  Lahm,  was  near  Beit-Jibrin.  Had  Beth-lehem,  however, 
been  originally  a  shrine,  some  trace  of  it  must  have  survived  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  there  is  none.  '  House  of  Bread '  is  a  natural  name  for  so 
fertile  a  site,  and  it  has  continued  into  Arabic,  in  which,  however,  the  same 
letters  mean  'house  of  meat.'  InJ  E  it  is  called  Ephrath,  that  is  B.  (Gen.  xxxv. 
16,  19 ;  cf.  xlviii.  7  R).  Ibzan,  a  minor  judge,  sprang  from  it  (Judges  xii. 
8-10).  In  Judges  xvii.  7,  xix.  i,  2,  etc.,  it  is  called  B.  injtidah  ;  in  Ruth  i. 
I,  etc.,  B.  Judah,  or  B.  alone.  So  in  i  and  2  Sam.,  passim,  i  Chron.  xi.  16, 
Jer.  xli.  17,  they  came  to  the  inn  of  Kiniham,  which  is  by  B.,  to  go  and  to 
enter  into  Egypt.  Micah  v.  2,  B.  Ephratah,  though  thou  be  too  small  to  be 
among  the  families  of  Judah.  The  natives  were  called  Ephrathites  (Ruth  i.  2, 
I  Sam.  xvii.  12).  But  in  Judges  xii.  5,  i  Sam.  i.  i,  i  Kings  xi.  26, 
Ephrathite  =  Ephraimite.  Herod's  citadel  near  Beth-lehem  was  the  Herodium, 
now  the  Jebel  Fureidis,  or  Frank  Mountain,  from  its  use  by  the  Crusaders 
after  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  (Felix  Fabri,  ed.  P.P.T.  ii.  403  f. ).  Conder 
suggests  Fureidis  =  a  corruption  of  Herodium  (cf.  Furbia=  Herbia).  Herod  is 
buried  here.  On  the  strong  reasons  for  supposing  that  the  Church  of  the 
Nativity  occupies  the  site  of  the  inn,  see  Conder,  T.  W.  ch.  x.,  Henderson's 
Fa' es tine,  p.  149. 


320   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

justice,  and  gave  her  name  to  the  ideal  city  men  are  ever 
striving  to  build  on  earth,  to  the  City  of  God  that  shall 
one  day  descend  from  heaven — the  New  Jerusalem.  For 
her  builder  was  not  Nature  nor  the  wisdom  of  men,  but 
on  that  secluded  and  barren  site,  the  Word  of  God,  by  her 
prophets,  laid  her  eternal  foundations  in  righteousness,  and 
reared  her  walls  in  her  people's  faith  in  God. 


■¥r 


ESDRAELON JAND  J^OWER  GALILFF 


CHAPTER  XVI 
SAMARIA 


X 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Maps  I.,  V.  and  VI. 


SAMARIA 

FROM  Judaea  we  pass  to  Samaria.     Halves  of  the  same 
mountain  range,  how  opposite  they  are  in  disposi- 
tion and  in  history  !     The  northern  is  as  fair 

Samaria  and 

and  open  as  the  southern  is  secluded  and  judasa— a 
austere,  and  their  fortunes  correspond.  To  the 
prophets  Samaria  is  the  older  sister,^  standing  nearer  to 
the  world,  taking  precedence  alike  in  good  and  evil.  The 
more  forward  to  attract,  the  more  quick  to  develop, 
Samaria  was  always  the  less  able  to  retain.  The  patri- 
archs came  first  to  Shechem,  but  chose  their  homes  about 
Hebron  ;  the  earliest  seats  of  Israel's  worship,  the  earliest 
rallies  of  her  patriotism,  were  upon  Mount  Ephraim,^  but 
both  Church  and  State  ultimately  centred  in  Jerusalem  ; 
after  the  disruption  of  the  kingdom  the  first  prophets  and 
heroes  sprang  up  in  the  richer  life  of  Northern  Israel,  but 
the  splendour  and  endurance  both  of  prophecy  and  of 
kingship  remained  with  Judaea.  And  so,  though  we  owe 
to  Samaria  some  of  the  finest  of  Israel's  national  lyrics, 
she  produced  no  literature  of  patriotism,  but  the  bulk  of 
the  literature  about  her  is  full  of  scorn  for  her  traffic  with 
foreigners,  for  her  luxury  and  her  tolerance  of  many  idols. 
*  Pride,  fulness  of  bread  and  prosperous  ease,'  then  rotten- 

^  Jer.  iii.  ;  Ezek.  xvi.  46,  and  especially  xxiii. 

^  He  bk'u  a  trumpet  in  Mount  Ephraitn,  Judges  iii.  27.     Pal/n-tree  of 
Deborah  between  Ramah  and  Bethel  in  Mount  Ephrai7/i,  iv.  5  ;  cf.  vi.  11. 

.S2:; 


324   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

ness  and  swift  ruin,  are  the  cliief  notes  of  prophecy  con- 
cerning her.  And  so  to-day,  while  pilgrims  throng  on 
either  hand  to  Judsea  and  to  Galilee,  none  seek  Samaria 
save  for  one  tiny  spot  of  her  surface — that  was  neither 
a  birthplace  nor  a  tomb  nor  a  battle-field  nor  a  city,  but 
the  scene  of  a  wayside  saying  by  Him  who  used  this  land 
only  as  a  passenger. 

But  if  hardly  Holy  Land — if  hardly  even  national  land — 
there  is  no  region  of  Syria  more  interesting  and  romantic. 
The  traveller,  entering  from  Judsea,  is  refreshed  by  a  far 
fairer  landscape.  When  he  reaches  the  Vale  of  Shechem 
he  finds  himself  at  the  true  physical  centre  of  Palestine, 
from  which  the  features  of  the  whole  country  radiate  and 
group  themselves  most  clearly.  Historical  memories,  too, 
burst  about  the  paths  of  Samaria  more  lavishly  than  even 
those  fountains,  which  render  her  such  a  contrast  to  Judaea 
— the  altars  at  Shechem  and  Shiloh,  the  fields  round 
Dothan,  the  palm-tree  of  Deborah,  the  winepress  of  Ophrah, 
Carmel  and  Gilboa,  the  columns  in  Samaria,  the  vineyard 
of  Naboth,  the  gates  of  Jezreel  and  Bethshan,  the  fords  of 
Jordan  ;  the  approach  of  the  patriarchs,  Elijah's  appari- 
tions, Elisha  passing  to  and  fro,  John  baptizing  at  yEnon 
near  to  Salim  ;  Ahab  and  Herod  ;  Gideon's  campaign, 
Jehu's  furious  driving,  Judith  and  Holofernes,  battles  of 
the  Maccabees,  the  strategy  of  Pompey  and  of  Vespasian. 
It  has  been  already  shown  how  the  southern  frontier  of 
Samaria  gradually  receded  from  the  Vale  of  Ajalon  to  the 
The  borders  Wady  Ishar  and  'Akrabbeh.^  The  northern 
of  Samaria.  ^^^  more  fixed,  and  lay  from  the  Mediterranean 
to  Jordan,  along  the  south  edge  of  Esdraelon,  by  the  foot 
of  Carmel  and  Gilboa.     If  we  shut  off  Carmel,  the  edge  of 

^  See  pp.  249-256. 


Samaria  325 

Sharon  may  be  taken  as  the  western  boundary  ;  the  eastern 
was  Jordan.  These  limits  enclose  a  territory  nearly  square, 
or  some  forty  miles  north  and  south  by  thirty-five  cast  and 
west — the  size  of  an  average  English  shire.^ 

The  earliest  name  given  to  this  section  of  the  Central 
Range  (we  exclude  Carmel)  was  Mount  Ephraim  :  -  just 
as  the  whole  table-land  of  Judah  was  called  Mount 
Moimt  JudaJi?  When  you  stand  off  the  country  Ephraim. 
you  see,  as  you  do  not  when  travelling  within  it,  the  pro- 
priety of  the  singular  name  moiint.  Broken  up  as  Samaria 
is  into  more  or  less  isolated  groups  of  hills,  yet  when  you 
view  her  from  Gilead,  or  from  the  Mediterranean,  she  pre- 
sents the  aspect  of  a  single  mountain  massif,  with  entrances 
indeed,  but  apparently  as  compact  as  even  the  table-land 
of  Judaea. 

Take  first  the  western  flank.  Here  from  summits  of 
3000  feet,  and  an  average  watershed  of  2000,  Mount 
Ephraim  descends  upon  Sharon  by  uninterrupted  ridges. 


^  See  p.  260.  The  exact  distances  are  these.  From  Bethel  to  Jezreel,  42 
miles  ;  from  the  edge  of  Sharon  to  Jordan  varies  between  33  and  36  miles  ; 
but  from  the  point  of  Carmel  to  Bethshan  is  40  miles  ;  and  to  the  south-east 
corner  of  the  province  (east  of  Bethel)  about  67  miles.  Without  Carmel 
Samaria  is  about  1400  square  miles ;  Carmel  represents  about  180  or  200 
more.  Judcea,  it  may  be  remembered,  was  estimated  at  2000  square  miles,  of 
which  only  ahout  1400  were  habitable. 

-  D''N"1DN  in,  Josh.   .wii.   15,  xix.   50,  etc.     Judges  iii.  27,  iv.   5,   etc.  ; 

I  Sam.  i.  I,  ix.  4,  etc.  That  the  whole  district  known  as  Samaria  is  covered 
by  the  name  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  between  Ramah  and  Bethel  is  styled 
as  being  in  Mount  Ephraim  (Judges  iv.  5) ;  also  Shechem  (i  Kings  xii.  25  ; 
Josh.  XX.  7,  etc.)  ;  and  that  in  Jer,  xxxi.  6,  Mount  Ephraim  stands  parallel 
to  Mountains  of  Samaria  (v.  5).  Of  course  the  name  spread  originally  from 
the  hill-country  immediately  north  of  Benjamin's  territory,  which  fell  to  the 
tribe  of  Ephraim,  and  in  which  we  must  seek  for  the  site  of  the  city  called 
Ephraitn  (2  Chron.  xiii.  19,  2  Sam.  xiii.  23,  John  xi.  54) — perhaps  the 
modern  et-Taiyibeh. 

^  Josh.  xxi.  II,  where  it  is  translated  hill-country  ofjitdah. 


326   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

The  general  aspect  of  the  slope  is  '  rocky  and  sterile  ; ' 
with    infrequent    breaks    of   olive-woods/    fields,   and    a 
The  western    ^^^  villages.      This   bareness   is   not   because 
flank.  Qf  steepness  ;    on   the   contrary,  the   descent, 

which  is  unbroken,  is  also  gradual — only  some  1800  feet 
in  eighteen  miles.  The  whole  flank  lies  in  -contrast  to  the 
border  of  precipices  and  defiles  which  runs  down  the  west 
of  Judaea ;  and,  whether  you  ascend  by  its  valleys  or  by 
its  broad  ridges,  you  find  the  way  easy  and  open.  That 
little  history  was  enacted  upon  this  flank  of  Mount 
Ephraim  seems  to  be  due  to — besides  the  comparative 
sterility  of  the  soil — the  impossibility  of  anywhere  making 
a  stand,  the  uselessness  of  anywhere  building  a  fortress. 

On  the  water-parting,  the  one  pass  conspicuous  from 
the  sea  is  that  in  which  Shechem  lies  between  Ebal  and 
The  eastern    Gedzim.     It  crosses  to  the  eastern  side  of  the 
flank.  range,  and   is   thence   continued  by   a  valley 

with  a  strong  southerly  trend,  the  present  Wady  el  Ifjim, 
which  runs  out  upon  the  Jordan  below  the  Horn  or 
Promontory  of  Surtabeh,  and  divides  the  eastern  flank  of 
Mount  Ephraim  into  two  distinct  sections.  South  of  the 
Wady  el  Ifjim,  Mount  Ephraim  presents  to  Eastern 
Palestine  a  high  bulwark  of  mountain  closely  piled,  with 
wild  corries  running  up  it — the  most  difficult  corner  of  the 
whole  frontier.  Seen  from  Nebo  it  looks  inaccessible. 
The  descent  is  over  2800  feet  in  nine  miles,  or  three  times 
the  gradient  of  the  western  flank.  But  north  of  the  Wady 
el  Ifjim  and  the  Horn  of  Surtabeh,  the  flank  of  Mount 
Ephraim  opens,  and  a  series  of  broad  valleys  descend 
through  it  from  the  interior.  From  the  water-parting  the 
level  drops  2500  feet  in  ten  miles.     Opposite  the  centre  of 

^  Robinson,  L.R.,  135. 


Samaria  327 

the  province  the  hills  fall  close  on  Jordan,  but  farther 
north  they  recede  to  a  distance  of  five  miles,  and  at  Beth- 
shan  they  turn  away  u^estward  in  the  range  of  Gilboa, 
leaving  the  valley  of  Jezreel  to  run  up  on  the  north  of 
them  towards  the  Mediterranean. 

Within  these  compact  bulwarks  Mount  Ephraim  sur- 
prises us  with  the  number  of  its  plains,  meadows,  and 
spacious  vales.  These  begin  from  the  north.  The  central 
with  the  gap  between  Carmel  and  Gilboa,  P^^"^^- 
through  which  a  broad  gulf  of  Esdraelon  gapes  for  seven 
miles  to  Jenin,  Thence  a  succession  of  level  spaces,  more 
or  less  connected,  spreads  southwards  through  the  centre  of 
the  province  to  within  a  few  miles  of  its  southern  border. 
First  from  Jenin  is  the  Plain  of  Dothan,^  reached  by  an 
easy  pass  through  low  hills ;  thence  another  easy  pass 
leads  to  a  series  of  spacious  meadows  lying  across  the 
country  from  the  south  end  of  Mount  Gilboa  to  the  range 
of  hills  which  bulwark  the  city  of  Samaria  on  the  north  ;  ^ 
and  thence  another  easy  pass  leads  to  a  third  series  of 
plains  running  south  past  the  Vale  of  Shechem  into  the 
great  Sahel  Mukhneh  opposite  Gerizim.  Now  upon  this 
succession  of  level  lands  running  south  from  Esdraelon, 
there  emerge  valleys, — both  those  that  come  up  from 
Sharon  and  those  that  come  up  from  Jordan.  Of  the 
former   the   chief  is   the   broad    Barley- Vale,  Wady   esh 

^  The  modern  Sahel  'Arrabeh.  Robinson  {Phys.  Geogr.,  122)  describes  it 
as  a  bay  or  offset  of  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon ;  but  it  is  separated  from  the 
latter  by  low  hills.  Wellhausen  [Hist.  p.  39)  describes  it  as  merging  into 
Sharon,  but  a  long  pass  connects  them  ;  see  p.  151. 

^  Cf.  P.E.F.  Mem.  ii.  Samaria,  38.  Trel.  Saunders,  Introd.  to  Survey,  136. 
The  Plains  of  'Arrabeh,  Selhab  and  Zebabdeh  drain  to  the  Mediterranean  ; 
the  Merj  el  Ghuruk  has  no  outlet.  In  May  1891,  when  we  passed,  it  held  a 
great  shallow  lake;  cf.  Robinson,  B.K.  iii.  153.  The  Mukhneh  drains  to 
Jordan. 


328   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Sha'ir,  which  sweeps  up  past  Samaria  upon  Shechem,  In 
this  direction,  too,  the  gentle  ridges  offer  almost  everywhere 
easy  access  from  the  coast.  On  the  other  side  running 
down  into  Jordan,  there  are  the  Wady  Far'ah,  that  winds 
from  a  little  south  of  Shechem  to  opposite  the  Jabbok, — 
the  trunk  road  to  the  east,  and  to-day  partly  the  route  of 
the  telegraph  wire  from  Nablus  to  Es-Salt ;  farther  north 
the  Bukeia,  or  Little-Dale  ;  then  the  Salt- Vale,  or  Wady 
el  Maleh,  that  issues  at  Abel-Meholah,  and,  lastly,  the 
Wady  el  Khashneh,  with  the  ancient  road  from  Shechem 
to  Bethshan,  up  which  came,  perhaps  Pompey,  and  cer- 
tainly Vespasian.  All  these  are  the  outgoings  of  Mount 
Ephraim^  broad,  fertile,  and  of  easy  gradients.  But 
besides  these,  and  even  where  the  mountains  crowd  most 
thickly  together,  in  the  south-east  corner  of  the  province 
there  are  frequent  meadows  and  corn  lands.  Travellers 
from  Judsea  will  remember  the  open  vales  which  they 
crossed  before  they  reached  the  Mukhneh  ;  and  of  the  less 
visited  country  to  the  east,  Robinson  says :  '  It  was  a 
matter  of  surprise  to  us  to  find  in  this  great  break-down  of 
the  mountains  so  much  good  land ;  so  many  fine  and 
arable,  though  not  large,  plains.'  ^ 

I.  Therefore   the   openness   of    Samaria    is    her    most 

prominent  feature,  and  tells  most   in  her  history.      Few 

invaders   were   successfully   resisted.     It  is  a 

I.  The  Open-  ^ 

ness  of  singular  fact  that  we  have  no  account  of  the 

Samaria. 

invasion  by  Israel.  Bethel  falls,  and  after  that 
the  tribe  of  Joseph,  to  whom  the  region  is  allotted,  express 
no  fear,  record  no  struggle,  till  they  come  to  the  Plain  of 
Esdraelon  and  the  cities  of  the  Canaanites  at  Bethshan 

1  Josh.  xvii.  18.  "^  L.R.,  296. 


Samaria  329 

and  Jezreel.^  Under  the  invasion  of  the  Canaanites, 
Israel's  native  law  could  be  administered  only  in  the 
extreme  south-east,  between  Ramah  and  Bethel,  where 
stood  the  palm-tree  of  Deborah.-  In  the  days  of  Gideon 
the  Midianites  swept  south  from  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon, 
so  that  the  use  of  the  open  threshing-floors  was  impossible 
even  at  Ophrah.^  In  Elisha's  time,  the  Syrians,  by 
apparently  annual  invasions,  swept  vi^estward  as  far  as  the 
citadel  of  Samaria,  behind  the  watershed.  The  Assyrians 
overwhelmed  the  land,  and  carried  off  the  greater  part  of 
the  population.  In  the  Book  of  Judith  Holofernes  is 
represented  as  easily  bringing  in  his  army  from  Esdraelon 
by  the  series  of  plains  described  above.^  Vespasian,  seek- 
ing to  blockade  Judaea,  marched  from  Antipatris  by 
Shechem  to  Korea,  and  thence  to  Jericho  and  back  again, 
and  then  to  Gophna,  Ephraim  and  back  again,  incredible 
as  it  seems,  within  a  week.^  And  Titus  came  easily  upon 
Jerusalem  from  Caesarea  past  Gophna  and  Bethel.^  How 
differently  all  this  reads  from  the  history  of  the  invasion  of 
Judaea  through  her  narrow  defiles — the  sallies  from  the 
hills,  the  ambushes  of  the  Wady  'Ali,  the  routs  down  by 
the  two  Beth-horons  and  Ajalon  ! 

One  very  interesting  effect  of  the  openness  of  Samaria 
is  the  frequency  with  which  the  chariot  appears   in   her 
history.     In  the  annals  of  Judah  chariots  are      chariot- 
but  seldom   mentioned.'^     All  the  long  drives      driving. 
of  the  Old  Testament  are  in  Samaria, — the  race  of  Ahab 

^  Josh.  xvii.  14.  -  Judges  iv.  5. 

'  Perhaps  Ferata,  south-west  from  Shechem  (Conder).     Judges  vi.  il. 

^  Bethulia  must  be  sought  for  somewhere  about  the  Merj  el  Ghuruk. 
See  p.  356.  5  Jos.  iv.  Wars,  viii.,  ix.,  x.  ^  Id.  v.  Wars,  ii.  i. 

^  See  Appendix,  on  Roads  and  Wheeled  Vehicles  in  Syria  from  the  earliest 
times  to  the  present. 


330   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

against  the  storm  from  Mount  Carmel  to  Jezreel ;  ^  his 
long  funeral  in  his  battle- chariot  stained  with  his  life- 
blood,  from  Ramoth-Gilead  to  Samaria,  a^id  they  washed 
his  chariot  by  the  pool  of  Samaria,  and  the  dogs  licked  up 
his  blood \^  the  drive  of  Jehu  from  Ramoth-Gilead  past 
Bethshan  and  up  the  valley  of  Jezreel,  and  as  he  came 
near,  the  watchman  in  Jezreel  told,  saying,  .  .  .  the  driving 
is  like  the  driving  of  Jehu  the  son  of  Nimshi,for  he  driveth 
furiously  ;  and  foram  said,  Yoke,  and  they  yoked  his  chariot, 
and  J  Oram  king  of  Israel  and  Ahaziah  king  of  Judah  went 
out  each  in  his  chariot  to  meet  Jehu,  and  found  him  in  the 
portion  of  Naboth  the  Jezreelite;  the  chariot  race  from  there 
between  Jehu  and  poor  Ahaziah  by  the  way  of  the  garden 
house,  the  ascent  of  Gur,  which  is  by  Ibleam,  where  Ahaziah 
was  smitten,  and  Megiddo,  where  he  died,  and  his  servants 
carried  him  in  a  chariot  to  Jerusalem  ;  ^  Jehu's  drive  again 
from  Jezreel  to  Samaria,  and  he  lighted  on  Jehonadab  the 
son  of  Rechab  coming  to  meet  him,  and  he  gave  him  his 
hand,  and  took  him  up  into  the  chariot,  and  said,  Come  with 
me  and  see  my  zeal  for  the  Lord ;  ^  and  the  long  drive  of 
Naaman  from  Damascus,  across  the  level  Hauran,  over 
Jordan  and  up  Jezreel,  with  his  horses  and  his  chariots,  to 
the  house  of  Elisha,  presumably  at  Samaria,  and  the  drive 
back  again,  and  the  pursuit  by  Gehazi,  and  when  Naaman 
saw  one  running  after  him,  he  lighted  down  from  his  chariot 
to  meet  him^  Contrast  all  this  with  the  two  meagre 
references  to  chariot-driving  in  Judaea — in  the  one  case 
the  chariot  carried  a  corpse,  in  the  other  a  dying  man  ^ — 
and  you  get  an  illustration  of  the  difference  between  the 

1  I  Kings  xviii.  44  ff.  2  j  Kings  xxii.  29  ff. 

3  2  Kings  ix.  16  ff.  *  2  Kings  x.  12,  15  ff. 

^  2  Kings  V.  9  ff.  ®  2  Kings  ix.  28 ;  2  Chron.  xxxv.  24. 


Samaria  331 

level  stretches  of  Samaria,  and  the  steep,  tortuous  roads 
of  her  sister  province.  Perhaps  the  prophet  intends  to 
emphasise  this  contrast  in  his  verse  :  /  will  cut  off  the 
chariot  from  Ephraiin,  and  the  horse  from  Jerusalem} 

Far  more  important  than  chariots,  more  important  even 
than  the  easy  invasion  by  enemies,  is  that  effect  of 
Samaria's  openness,  to  which  allusion  was  p,.ecocity  of 
made  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  Judsea,  Samana. 
earning  from  outsiders  little  but  contempt,  inspired  the 
people,  whom  she  so  carefully  nursed  in  seclusion  from 
the  world,  with  a  patriotism  that  has  survived  two  thou- 
sand years  of  separation,  and  still  draws  her  exiles  from 
the  fairest  countries  of  the  world  to  pour  their  tears  upon 
her  dust,  though  it  be  among  the  most  barren  the  world 
contains.  Samaria,  fair  and  facile,  lavished  her  favours  on 
foreigners,  and  was  oftener  the  temptation  than  the  dis- 
cipline, the  betrayer  than  the  guardian,  of  her  own.  The 
surrounding  paganism  poured  into  her  ample  life  ;  and 
although  to  her  was  granted  the  honour  of  the  first  great 
victories  against  it — Gideon's  and  Elijah's — she  suffered 
the  luxury  that  came  after  to  take  away  her  crown. 
From  Amos  to  Isaiah  the  sins  she  is  charged  with  are 
those  of  a  civilisation  that  has  been  ripe,  and  is  rotten — 
drunkenness,  clumsy  art,  servile  imitation  of  foreigners, 
thoughtlessness  and  cruelty.  For  these  she  falls,  and  her 
summer  beauty  is  covered  by  the  mud  of  a  great  deluge. 
The  crown  of  the  pride  of  the  drunkards  of  Ephraim  is 
trodden  under  foot^  and  the  fading  flower  of  his  glorious 
beauty,  which  is  on  the  head  of  the  fat  valley,  shall  be  as  the 
first  ripe  fig  before  the  summer,  which  when  he  that  hath 
caugJit  sight  of  it,  seeth  it,  zvhile  it  is  yet  in  his  hand,  he 
^  Zech.  ix.  10. 


332    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

eateth   it  up}      Poor   province,   she   grew   ripe   and   was 
ravished  before  the  real  summer  of  her  people  ! 

II.  The  second  characteristic  of  Samaria  is  her  central 

and   dominant   position,      Jerusalem   has   acquired    such 

stupendous  historical  importance  that  we  are 

II.  The  Cen-  .  .  ,  ,  1111 

trai  Position  apt  to  imagmo  her  as  the  natural  head  and 
centre  of  the  land.  But  nothing  comes  with 
greater  surprise  upon  the  visitor  to  Palestine  than  to 
discover  that,  with  all  her  advantages  of  defence,  Jerusalem 
lies  on  a  barren  and  awkward  site,  and  that  both  natural 
and  historical  precedence  have  to  be  given,  not  to  Mount 
Zion  and  the  City  of  David,  but  to  Mount  Ebal  and 
Mount  Gerizim,  with  Shechem  between  them. 

We  have  noticed  how  this  suggests  itself  even  before  we 
touch  the  land.  In  the  Central  Range  of  Western  Pales- 
tine, as  seen  from  the  sea,  the  only  sign  of  a 
pass  is  that  between  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  whose 
summits  so  conspicuously  rise  above  the  general  level  of 
the  sky-line.  It  is  the  same  on  the  other  side  of  the  land. 
Seen  from  Moab,  the  Central  Range  runs  unbroken,  save 
by  the  narrowest  of  corries.  But  stand  farther  north,  on 
the  hills  of  Gilead,  opposite  Ephraim — on  Jebel  'Oshea, 
above  Es-Salt,  or  on  the  high  castle  of  Er-Rubad,  above 
'Ajlun — and  there  open  to  you  across  Jordan  the  mouths 
of  valleys  which  run  up  to  the  great  plains  in  front  of 
Shechem.  There  is  thus  a  pass  right  across  Samaria,  from 
the  coast  to  Jordan,  and  just  where  it  pierces  the  water- 

^  One  interesting  proof  of  how  Samaria  was  permeable  from  the  west  is 
shown  in  Beit  Dejan,  i.e.  the  House  of  Dagon,  the  name  of  a  village  six  and 
a  half  miles  south-east  of  Shechem.  Cf.  also  the  name  Amalek  (Judges  v. 
14,  xii.  15).  This,  however,  is  perhaps  due  to  some  Arab  element  which, 
like  the  Kenites  in  the  south  of  Judah,  entered  the  land  along  with  Israel. 


Samatia  333 

shed,  with  Ebal  on  one  side  and  Gerizim  on  the  other, 
Shechem  Hes  at  the  parting  of  the  waters,  some  of  its 
fountains  flowing  seawards,  the  rest  towards  Jordan.  Joppa, 
down  an  open  inchne,  stands  three  or  four  miles  nearer 
than  to  Jerusalem.  Csesarea  is  but  thirty  miles  away  ; 
Jenin,  the  gateway  to  Esdraelon,  eighteen  ;  Bethshan' 
twenty-five  ;  while  none  of  the  roads  which  fall  directly  to 
the  east  take  more  than  eighteen  miles  to  reach  the  fords 
of  Jordan.  We  have  also  seen  that  from  Mount  Ebal  all 
the  chief  features  and  most  of  the  borders  of  the  land  are 
visible.^  There  is  one  other  token  to  add.  To-day  Shechem 
is  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  province,  and — eloquent 
homage  of  civilisation  to  its  immemorial  rank — it  is  the 
connecting  link  of  the  telegraphic  systems  of  the  east  and 
west  of  Jordan. 

It  is  therefore  in  full  harmony  with  the  geographical 
data  that  the  story  of  the  patriarchs  brings  both  Abraham 
and  Jacob,  on  their  entrance  into  the  Promised  Historical 
Land,  at  once  to  Shechem,^  and  that  the  Book  P'oo^s. 
of  Deuteronomy  selects  Ebal  and  Gerizim  as  the  scene  of 
a  great  inaugural  service  by  all  Israel  on  taking  possession 
of  the  country — a  service  the  performance  of  which  the 
Book  of  Joshua  duly  records.  Both  of  these  passages,  in 
Deuteronomy  and  in  Joshua,  are  from  the  hands  of  a 
writer,  the  Deuteronomist,  whose  ruling  principle  is  the 
centralisation  of  Israel's  worship  in  one  sanctuary,  and 
that  ostensibly  Jerusalem.  His  mention  of  Ebal,  there- 
fore— and  it  is  the  only  sacred  site  which  he  names — 
stands   out   in  all    the   greater   relief,  as  a  proof  of  the 

'  Book  I.  ch.  vi.,  The  View  from  Mount  Ebal. 

^  Abraham,  Gen.  xii.  6  (J) ;  Jacob,  Gen.  xxxiii.  i8  (P  and  probably  also  E, 
cf.  xxxiv.). 


334   ^-^^^  Histo7^ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

natural  attractiveness  and  central  position  of  the  district 
of  Shechem.^  After  the  disruption  of  Israel,  these  qualities 
of  Shechem  were  not  found  to  atone  for  her  weakness  as 
a  fortress,  and  she  soon  ceased  to  be  the  capital  of  the 
Northern  Kingdom.  It  was  to  the  Samaritans  that  the 
district  owed  the  revival  of  its  claims  to  be  considered  the 
religious  centre  of  the  land.  But  this  was  in  the  interest 
of  as  narrow  and  exclusive  a  sectarianism  as  ever  sought 
to  monopolise  the  liberal  intentions  of  nature.  The  abuse 
was  gloriously  atoned  for.  It  was  by  this  natural  capital 
of  the  Holy  Land,  from  which  the  outgoings  to  the  world 
are  so  many  and  so  open,  that  the  religion  of  Israel  rose 
once  for  all  above  every  geographical  limit,  and  the  charter 
of  a  universal  worship  was  given.  Neither  in  this  mountain, 
nor  yet  at  Jerusalem,  shall  ye  worship  the  Father ;  but  the 
hour  Cometh,  and  now  is,  when  the  true  worshippers  shall 
worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth? 

^  Deut.  xxvii.  and  Josh.  viii.  30 ff.  The  former  is  a  very  difficult  chapter. 
It  breaks  the  connection  between  xxvi.  and  xxviii.,  and  is  evidently  compiled 
from  several  distinct  narratives  (Dillmann  in  loco,  and  Driver,  Int7-od.  S8). 
But  these  all  agree  that  a  great  national  service  was  to  take  place  at  Shechem 
soon  after  the  crossing  of  Jordan,  of  which  Josh.  viii.  30 ff.  (Deut.)  recounts 
the  performance  in  harmony  with  the  Deuteronomist  portions  of  Deut.  xxvii. 
That  the  only  sanctuary  mentioned  by  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  should  be 
the  capital  of  Samaria,  is  surely  an  element  to  be  taken  into  consideration  of 
the  question  whether  that  book  arose  out  of  an  agitation  in  favour  of  a  central 
sanctuary  at  Jerusalem.  If  it  did,  it  is  strange  that  Ebal  is  so  honoured, 
while  Jerusalem  is  not  once  mentioned. 

"  Among  other  assumptions,  the  Samaritans  fixed  on  Gerizim  as  the  site  of 
the  offering  of  Isaac,  and  this  is  supported  by  Stanley  {Sinai  and  Palestine, 
note  to  ch.  v. )  on  the  ground  that  Gerizim  is  visible  from  a  great  distance,  as 
Mount  Moriah  in  Jerusalem  is  not.  Abraha7n  lifted  up  his  eyes,  a7td  saw  the 
place  afar  off  [vQX.  4).  But  the  vagueness  of  the  phrases  the  land  of  Moriah 
and  one  of  the  mountains  (ver.  2)  prevents  us  from  fixing  on  any  definite  hill ; 
while  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  Moriah  is  not  the  original  reading, 
but  is  a  gloss  of  late  origin,  and  inserted  in  order  to  give  the  Temple  at 
Jerusalem  the  credit  of  the  patriarchal  narrative.     Cf.   Baudissin,  Stud.  zz. 


Samaria  335 

III.  The  third  feature  of  Samaria  is  her  connection  with 
Eastern  Palestine.     This  connection  has  existed  from  the 
earliest  times,  with  the  one  great  interruption    jjj   Conncc- 
of  the  Samaritan  schism,  down  to  the  present    EastCTn^ 
day.    Both  Abraham  and  Jacob  came  from  the    Palestine. 
East  to  Shechem.     Israel,  leaving  to  Ammon  and  Moab 
the  regions  of  Eastern  Palestine  which  are  opposite  Judah, 
herself  occupied  those  which  march  with  Samaria.     In  this 
latitude,  one  tribe,  Manasseh,  was  settled  on  both  sides  of 
the  river ;  ^  another,  Ephraim,  gave  its  name  not  only  to 
the  western  mountains,  but  to  a  wood  or  Jungle  on  the 
eastern    side ;  ^    for  a  time   in   the   days   of  the   Judges, 
Midianites,  sons  of  the  East,  swept  annually  across  Jordan, 

Sennit.  Religions-gesch.  ii.  252;  Dillmann  on  Gen.  xxvii. ,  and  Henderson's 
Palestine,  §  48. 

^  See  Chs.  xxv.  and  xxvi.  for  the  Eastern  Conquests  of  Israel. 

2  Forest  or  Jimgle  of  Ephraim,  in  which  the  battle  took  place  between 
David  and  Absalom  (2  Sam.  xviii.  6).  Reuss  {in  loco)  insists  that  a  forest 
with  the  name  Ephraim  could  have  lain  only  west  of  Jordan.  He  claims  that 
this  position  agrees  with  the  course  of  the  narrative  which  represents  the 
bearer  of  the  news  to  David,  who  was  at  Mahanaim,  taking  the  direction  of 
the  Jordan  Valley,  which  he  naturally  would  have  done  had  he  started  from 
the  west  of  the  river,  and  explains  the  absence  of  any  mention  of  David's  force 
recrossing  the  river  to  meet  Absalom  by  supposing  gaps  in  the  narrative. 
Putting  aside  this  arbitrary  hypothesis,  by  which  one  might  prove  anything,  I 
may  point  out  that  both  messengers  had  to  run  from  the  scene  of  Absalom's 
defeat  to  David,  and  ask,  if  that  was  on  the  west  of  Jordan,  how  could  it  be 
said  that  only  one  of  the  messengers  ran  from  it  by  way  of  the  plain  (ver.  23)? 
This  disposes  of  Reuss'  conjecture,  and  proves  the  forest  to  have  been  east  of 
the  river.  Lucian's  recension  of  the  LXX.  gives  '^aaiva.v  (for  D"'jnO)  instead 
of  Ephraim  as  the  name  of  the  forest.  But  this  is  just  the  kind  of  correction 
Lucian  would  make  to  relieve  a  difficulty.  And,  indeed,  why  should  it  be 
thought  unlikely  that  the  name  Ephraim  should  have  crossed  the  river,  and 
fastened  on  the  eastern  bank?  In  the  course  of  the  history  of  that  tribe, 
especially  in  the  days  of  the  Judges,  a  hundred  adventures  were  likely  to  occur 
to  cause  the  Ephraimites,  who  so  frequently  passed  over,  to  leave  their  name 
behind  them  when  they  went  back.  Or  a  colony  may  easily  have  settled 
there.  And,  in  fact,  we  do  read  of  Ephraimites  settling  in  Gilead  in  such 
large  numbers  that  the  western  Ephraimites  call  the  Gileadites  fugitives  from 
Ephraim  (Judges  xii.  4). 


;^^6    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  up  to  the  recesses  of  Mount  Ephraim  ;  Gideon  drove 
them  back,  and  the  rout  extended  from  Esdraelon  to 
Heshbon  ;  it  was  from  a  rendezvous  in  Ephraim  that  Saul, 
though  a  Benjamite,  marched  to  the  rehef  of  Jabesh  Gilead.^ 
As  before  the  disruption  the  trans-Jordanic  provinces  were 
connected  with  the  tribe  of  Joseph,  so  after  it  they  fell  to 
that  tribe's  successor.  Northern  Israel ;  as  formerly  the 
Midianites  made  yearly  incursions  across  the  river,  so  now 
the  Syrians.  Jeroboam,  the  first  king,  fortified  Penuel  after 
fortifying  Shechem,^  and  Ramoth-Gilead  was  a  garrison 
and  outpost  under  Ahab,  from  which  chariots  drove  to 
Jezreel  and  Samaria.^  Elijah,  the  prophet  of  Samaria, 
was  from  Tishbeh  in  Gilead ;  Elisha  crossed  Jordan  to 
anoint  Jehu.  After  the  exile,  the  impotence  of  the  Samari- 
tans naturally  broke  the  connection  of  their  territory  with 
the  land  over  Jordan,  and  Perea,  as  the  latter  was  now 
called,  formed  the  link  between  Galilee  and  Judsa.* 
But  in  modern  times  the  old  relation  has  reasserted 
itself,  and  the  eastern  table-land  is  again  governed  from 
Nablus. 

The  reason  of  this  immemorial  connection  is  very  clear. 

We  have  seen  that  a  number  of  valleys  lead  down  through 

Mount  Ephraim  upon  Jordan,  while  the  Plain 

Its  reason. 

of  Esdraelon,  with  its  offsets  mto  Northern 
Samaria,  presents  a  still  more  easy  highway  in  the  same 
direction.  Now,  to  Esdraelon  and  those  passes  the  Jordan, 
dangerous  river  as  it  is,  offers  an  extraordinary  number 
of  fords ;  while  farther  south,  where  the  passes  into  the 
Western  Range  are  few  and   more  difficult,  there  are  in 

^  From  Bezek,  probably  Khurbet  Ibzik,   thirteen   miles  north-east  from 
Shechem,  on  the  road  down  to  Bethshan. 

"  I  Kings  xii.  25.  -^  i  Kings  xxii.  ;  2  Kings  ix. 

*  Though  Bethshan  went  with  Decapolis. 


Samaria  337 

Jordan  hardly  any  fords.^  The  passage,  therefore,  from 
Samaria  to  Gilead  was  a  comparatively  easy  one  at  many 
points ;  hence  their  frequent  invasions  of  each  other,  and 
their  long  political  union.  With  this  contrast  the  separation 
of  Judaea  from  the  east  by  the  great  gulf  of  the  Dead  Sea. 

In  connection  with  the  chariots  above  mentioned,  Ahab's, 
Jehu's,  and  Naaman's,  the  question  naturally  rises,  How 
did  they  cross  Jordan  ?  Till  the  Romans  came  -pj^^  ^^^^^ 
there  were  no  bridges  in  Palestine.  Like  the  of  Jordan. 
name  for  port,  the  name  for  bridge  does  not  occur  in  the 
Old  Testament,  probably  because  the  thing  itself  was  quite 
unknown.  It  is  unlikely  that  chariots  were  driven  across 
the  river,  for  the  shallowest  ford  is  three  feet  deep,  and  the 
bottom  very  muddy.  Either  the  body  of  the  chariot  was 
floated  over,  as  baggage  is  still  floated,  by  inflated  skins, 
or  else  such  broad  ferry-boats  existed  as  Caesar  found  in 
use  on  the  rivers  of  Gaul.^ 

IV.  The  fourth  feature  of  Samaria  is  her  connection  with 
Carmel.     To  Samaria  Carmel  holds  much  the  same  place 

^  On  the  Survey  map  not  more  than  five  fords  are  marked  south  of  the  Horn 
of  Surtabeh,  but  at  least  twenty-two  north  of  this. 

-  Bell.  Gall.  iii.  29.  The  depth  of  the  fords  on  Jordan  is  very  variable. 
Burckhardt  tells  of  one  two  hours  south-east  from  Beisan,  which  was  three  feet 
deep  [Syj-ia,  344,  345) ;  Lynch,  of  one  that  a  small  donkey  crossed  with  difficulty 
[Narrative,  224).     Three  Hebrew  forms  from  the  same  root,  to  cross — "13^0 

mayTO  and  nnay-     The  first  two  mean  both  a  ford  (Gen.  xxxii.  23,  "I3y0  ; 

Josh.  ii.  7,  and  several  other  passages,  n"l3yD)  and  a  pass  (i  Sam.  xiii.  23  ; 
xiv.  4;  Isa.  X.  29).  The  third  is  used  only  in  2  Sam.  xix.  18,  and  may  be 
either  a  ford  or  more  probably,  as  in  the  Authorised  Version,  a  ferry,  as  it  is 
nominative  to  the  active  verb  caused  to  pass  over.  In  the  text  of  2  Sam.  xv. 
28  and  xvii.  16,  the  plural  nil^y  is  used,  and  must  mean  as  it  stands,  fords ; 
but  the  Hebrew  margin  and  LXX.  read  ni3"iy,  or  plains.  In  Rabbinic 
Hebrew,  Xl^yO  and  HIDyD  both  mean  a  ferry.  In  Jer.  li.  32,  Ilitz.  transl. 
mayo  by  'bridge.' 

V 


03 


38    T/ie  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


on  the  west  as  Bashan  or  Gilead  fills  to  the  east.     Seen 

from  Ebal  or  Jezreel,  they  stand  on  either  hand  of  Mount 

Ephraim,    carrying    the    eye    along    the    only   high    and 

sustained  sky-lines  within  sight,  and  forming 

IV.  Con-  1  1  1         •  r 

nectionwith  with  Hcrmon  the  three  dommant  features  of 
the  view.  Both  of  them,  too,  have  always  been 
better  wooded  than  Mount  Ephraim.  And  so,  because 
they  thus  stand  out  in  similar  relation  and  in  similar  con- 
trast to  Samaria,  it  does  not  surprise  us  to  find  them, 
though  at  opposite  sides  of  the  Holy  Land,  frequently 
mentioned  together.  Bashan  and  Cannel  shake  off  their 
fruits.  Israel  shall  feed  in  Bashan  and  Cannel.  Feed  thy 
people  .  .  .  in  the  forest  in  the  midst  of  Carmel:  let  them 
feed  in  Bashan  and  Gilead.  Sometimes  Lebanon  is  added  : 
Bashan  languisheth,  and  Carmel,  and  the  flower  of  Lebanon 
languishcth. 

Though  of  the  same  rock  as  the  Central  Range,  Carmel, 
as  we  have  seen,  is  separated  from  the  latter  by  a  softer 
formation,  in  which  the  more  denuded  hills  offer  easy  pas- 
sages from  Sharon  to  Esdraelon.  These  hills  are  the  so- 
called  Shephelah  of  Isi^ael,^  as  debatable  ground  as  the 
Shephelah  of  Judah,  but  lying  very  much  more  openly 
than  the  latter  in  the  line  of  foreign,  traffic  and  war. 
Carmel  was,  therefore,  no  integral  part  of  the  body  politic 
of  Samaria.  The  kings,  indeed,  of  Northern  Israel  held  it 
as  they  held  Gilead.  But,  in  the  later  history,  Carmel  lay 
outside  the  province  of  Samaria — sometimes  reckoned  to 
Galilee,  sometimes  taken  by  Tyre.^  Nor  was  Carmel  a 
threshold  to  the  land  :  his  isolated  range  could  not  be  used 
by  Israel,  as  Gilead  was,  for  the  basis  of  foreign  campaigns. 
Indeed  we  have  seen  how  all  the    campaigns  of   Syrian 

^  Josh.  xi.  16.      See  p.  203.  ^  Josephus,  iii.  l¥ars,  iii.  I. 


Sai72aria 


339 


history  treated  Carmel  only  as  a  thing  to  be  avoided, 
sweeping  past  on  either  side  of  him.  The  ridge  was  so 
well  cultivated  that  the  villages  must  have  been  many,  but 
there  was  neither  site  nor  occasion  for  a  large  town.  Car- 
mel, therefore,  had  no  political  or  military  history.  His 
influences  were  all  of  another  kind. 

Throughout  the  Old  Testament  Carmel  appears  either  as 
a  symbol  or  as  a  sanctuary.  His  bulk,  visible  from  so  many 
quarters  of  the  land,  makes  him  the  picture  of 

Carmel  in 

all  that  is  fact  and  not  dream  :  while  his  head-    the  oid 

1  1-1  1  r      1  Testament. 

long  sweep  seawards  is  the  very  token  of  what 
will  surely  come  and  not  fail.  Pharaoh  is  but  a  rwnoiir, 
do  they  say  ?  As  I  live,  saith  Jehovah,  stcrely  like  Tabor 
among  the  mountains,  and  like  Carmel  by  the  sea,  shall  he 
come  !  The  two  hills  stand  at  opposite  ends  of  Esdraelon, 
each  separate  from  other  hills,  and  imposing  its  bulk  upon 
the  plain.  But  Carmel's  long  sweep  north-westward  invests 
him  with  the  appearance  of  having  come  there.  Some  hills 
suggest  immovableness,  and  others,  with  their  '  long  grey- 
hound backs,'  are  full  of  motion.  It  is  the  peculiarity  of 
Carmel  to  combine  these  effects,  and  to  impress  those  who 
look  upon  him  with  the  sense  of  one  long  stride  over  the 
plain  and  firm  foothold  upon  the  sea.  It  is  not,  however, 
only  his  shape  that  is  symbolic.  Sweeping  seawards, 
Carmel  is  the  first  of  Israel's  hills  to  meet  the  rains,  and 
they  give  him  of  their  best.  He  is  clothed  in  verdure. 
To-day  it  is  mostly  wild — fresh  open  jungle,  coppices  of 
oak  and  carob,  with  here  and  there  a  grove  of  great  trees. 
But  in  ancient  times  most  of  the  hill  was  cultivated.  The 
name  means  The  Garden,  and  in  the  rock,  beneath  the  wild 
bush  that  now  covers  so  much  of  it,  grooved  floors  and 
troughs  have  been  traced,  sufficiently  numerous  to  be  the 


340   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

proof  of  large  harvests  of  grape  and  olive.  The  excellency 
of  Caruiel  was  now  the  figure  of  human  beauty,^  and  now 
the  mirror  of  the  lavish  goodness  of  God  ;  ^  that  Carmel 
should  languish — Carmel  in  the  very  gateway  of  the  rains 
— is  the  prophets'  most  desperate  figure  of  desolation. 

But   it   is   as   a   sanctuary  that   the   long   hill   is   best 
remembered  in  history.     In  its  separation  from  other  hills, 
Carmel  and    ^^^  position  on  the  sea,  its  visibleness  from  all 
Elijah.  quarters  of  the  country ;  ^  in  its  uselessness  for 

war  or  traffic  ;  in  its  profusion  of  flowers,  its  high  platforms 
and  groves  with  their  glorious  prospects  of  land  and  sea, 
Carmel  must  have  been  a  place  of  retreat  and  of  worship 
from  the  earliest  times.  It  was  claimed  for  Baal  ;  but, 
even  before  Elijah's  day,  an  altar  had  stood  upon  it  for 
Jehovah.  About  this  altar — as  on  a  spot  whose  sanctity 
they  equally  felt — the  rival  faiths  met  in  that  contest,  in 
which  for  most  of  us  all  the  history  of  Carmel  consists. 
The  story  in  the  Book  of  Kings  is  too  vivid  to  be  told 
again  ;  but  it  is  not  without  interest  to  know  that  the 
awful  debate,  whether  Jehovah  or  Baal  was  supreme  lord 
of  the  elements,  was  fought  out  for  a  full  day  in  face  of 
one  of  the  most  sublime  prospects  of  earth  and  sea  and 
heaven.  Before  him,  who  stands  on  Carmel,  nature  rises 
in  a  series  of  great  stages  from  sea  to  Alp :  the  Medi- 
terranean, the  long  coast  to  north  and  south,  with  its  hot 
sands  and  palms  ;  Esdraelon  covered  with  wheat,  Tabor 
and  the  lower  hills  of  Galilee  with  their  oaks, — then,  over 
the  barer  peaks  of  Upper  Galilee  and  the  haze  that  is 
about  them,  the  clear  snow  of  Hermon,  hanging  like  an 

1  Song  vii.  5.  -  Isaiah  xxxv.  2. 

3  Carmel  is  visible  not  only  from  the  hills  of  Samaria,  from  Jaffa,  from  Tyre, 
from  Hermon,  from  the  hills  of  Naphtali,  but  also  from  the  hills  behind 
Gadara,  east  of  Jordan,  and  from  many  other  points  in  Gilead. 


Samaria  341 

only  cloud  in  the  sky.  It  was  in  face  of  that  miniature 
universe  that  the  Deity  who  was  Character  was  vindicated 
as  Lord  against  the  deity  who  was  not.  It  was  over  all 
that  realm  that  the  rain  swept  up  at  the  call  of  the  same 
God  who  exposed  the  injustice  of  the  tyrant  and  avenged 
the  wrongs  of  Naboth. 

V.  The  last  great  feature  of  Samaria  was  the  fortresses, 
which  were  necessitated  by  the  peculiar  formation  of  the 
province,  and  which  lay  all  around  and  across 

^  '  ^  V.  Strong 

her.     But  the  number  of  them  was  so  great,   places  of 

•  Samaria. 

and  the  part  they  played  m  her  history  so  im- 
portant,— repeating  on  several  sites  the  function  usually 
discharged   in  a  country  by  one  capital    city, — that   the 
description  of  them  must  be  left  for  another  chapter. 


CHAPTER   XVII 
THE  STRONG  PLACES  OF  SAMARIA 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Maps  /.,   V.  and  VI. 


THE  STRONG  PLACES  OF  SAMARIA 

LAST  chapter  closed  with  the  designation  of  her  many 
fortresses  as  the  fifth  great  feature  of  Samaria.  It 
is  these  which  this  chapter  is  to  describe.  The  large 
number  of  them  was  due  to  the  openness  of  the  land,  and 
to  the  fact  that,  unlike  Judaea,  Samaria  had  no  central 
position  upon  which  her  defence  might  be  consolidated. 
Her  fortresses  lay  all  around  and  across  her,  but  chiefly, 
as  was  natural,  upon  the  passes  which  draw  up  to  her 
centre.  They  were  mostly  built  on  the  high  isolated 
knolls,  which  are  so  frequent  a  feature  of  her  scenery. 

Of  those  strong  places,  the  chief  was  that  which  was  so 
long  the  capital  and  gave  its  name  to  the  whole  kingdom. 
The  head  of  Ephraiin  is  Samaria} 

This  is  to  dethrone  Shechem,  the  earliest  capital  of  the 
land,  the  place  to  which  the  government  has  gravitated 
again  and  again,  and  on  which  it  rests  to-day.  weakness  of 
But  Shechem  is  no  fortress.  The  natural  Shechem. 
centre  of  the  land,  as  we  have  seen,  well  furnished  with 
water,  and  attracting  also  by  its  sacred  associations,  the 
site  is,  nevertheless,  incapable  of  defence.  This  was  dis- 
covered by  Jeroboam  himself,  for  even  in  his  reign  we  find 
the  court  at  Tirzah,^  a  strong  position  by  the  head  of  one  of 
the  eastern  passes.     Tirzah  was  retained  by  the  following 

'  Isaiah  vii.  9.  "  \  Kings  xiv.  17. 


346    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Larid 

dynasty,  but  when  the  next  usurper,  Omri,  had  time  to 
shape  his  policy,  he  turned  westward,  and  chose  him  a 
The  city  of  virgin  site  in  that  valley  which  leads  down 
Samaria.  from  Shcchem  to  the  coast,  the  present  Wady 
esh-Sha'ir  or  Barley- Vale.  Here,  in  a  wide  basin,  formed 
by  a  bend  of  the  vale  and  an  incoming  glen,  rises  a 
round,  isolated  hill  over  three  hundred  feet  high.  It 
was  not  already  a  city,  but  was  probably,  as  it  is  to-day, 
covered  with  soil  and  arable  to  the  top.  Omri  fortified 
it  and  called  it  Shomeron,  Wartburg,  the  Watch  Tower.^ 
The  name  is  obviously  appropriate.  Although  the  moun- 
tains surround  and  overlook  it  on  three  sides,  Samaria 
commands  a  great  view  to  the  west.  The  broad  vale 
is  visible  for  eight  miles,  then  a  low  range  of  hills, 
and  over  them  the  sea.  It  is  a  position  out  of  the  way 
of  most  of  the  kingdom,  of  which  the  centre  of  gravity 
lay  upon  the  eastern  slope ;  but  it  was  wisely  chosen 
by  a  dynasty  whose  strength  was  alliance  with  Phoenicia. 
The  coast  is  but  twenty-three  miles  away,  the  sea  is  in 
sight.  In  her  palace  in  Samaria,  Jezebel  can  have  felt 
far  neither  from  her  home  nor  from  the  symbols  of  her 
ancestral  faith.  There  flashed  the  path  of  her  father's 
galleys,  and  there  each  night  her  people's  god  sank  to  his 
rest  in  the  same  glory  betwixt  sky  and  sea,  which  they 
were  worshipping  from  Tyre. 

But  the  position  has  other  advantages  than  its  western 

inOty  from  -lOJi*  to  watch,  with  the  termination  so  frequent  in  Hebrew 
place-names.  The  Aramaic  is  H^K'*,  and  it  is  from  this  that  the  Greek 
lla/xapeia  and  Latin  Samaria  are  formed.  But  LXX.  gives  also  ^efiepcov  and 
^ofiopuv,  and  Josephus  Xefiapewv  (viu.  Antt.  xii.  5):  Stade,  in  Z.^.  71  fF., 
1885,  165-175,  Der  Name  der  Stadt  Samarie7t  u.  seine  Herkwtft,  disputes 
the  statement  of  i  Kings  xvi.  24,  that  Omri  first  gave  the  place  its  name,  and 
takes  the  original  form  to  have  been  jilOB'". 


TJie  Strong  Places  of  Samaria  347 

exposure.  '  Though  it  would  now  be  commanded  from  the 
northern  range,  it  must  before  the  invention  of  gunpowder 
have  been  almost  impregnable.'  ^     The  sieges 

Its  sieges. 

of  Samaria  were  therefore  always  prolonged. 
In  Elisha's  day  there  was  the  blockade  by  the  Syrians  ; 
when,  behold,  they  besieged  it,  until  an  ass's  head  was  sold 
for  fourscore  shekels,  and  the  fourth  part  of  a  kab  of  Dove's 
dung  for  five?  Even  the  Assyrians  did  not  capture  the 
town  till  after  an  investment  of  three  years,  723-721.  In 
331,  it  yielded  to  Alexander  the  Great,  who  visited  it  on 
his  way  back  from  Egypt,  in  order  to  punish  the  Samaritan 
murderers  of  the  Governor  he  had  appointed  over  Coele- 
Syria.^  Ptolemy  Lagos  deemed  it  dangerous  enough  to 
have  it  dismantled  before  he  gave  over  Coele-Syria  to 
Antigonus :  *  and  being  rebuilt,  it  was  again  destroyed 
fifteen  years  later.^  Fortified  once  more,  it  was  able  in 
120  to  resist  the  flood-tide  of  Jewish  conquest  under  John 
Hyrcanus  for  a  year.®  He  demolished  the  city,  but,  like 
so  many  other  places  devastated  by  the  Jews,  it  was  rebuilt 
by  Gabinius,  the  successor  of  Pompey.'^  And  then  as  the 
site  had  suited  the  Phoenician  alliance  of  Ahab,  so  it  fell 

^  Major  Conder,  Tent  Work.  ^  2  Kings  vi.  25. 

*  Andromachus,  whom  they  burnt  alive.  Q.  Curtius  (ed.  Lemaire)  cf. 
iv.  5,  9,  with  iv.  8,  9.  Other  writers  add  that  Alexander  also  settled  Mace- 
donians in  the  town.  Euseb.  Chro7i.  ii.  114,  Syncell.  i.  496,  both  quoted  by 
Schiirer,  Hist.  Div.  11.  vol.  i.  123.  Euseb.  also  speaks  of  Perdiccas  as  having 
refounded  the  town. 

*  Diodorus  Siculus,  xix.  93. 

^  Demetrius  Poliorcetes  in  his  struggle  against  Ptolemy.  Stark,  Caca,  361, 
gives  the  authorities, 

*  Josephus,  xiii.  Ajitt.  x.  2,  3  ;  i.  Wars,  ii.  7.  The  account  of  how  Hyrcanus 
demolished  Samaria  is  very  interesting  :  '  He  destroyed  it  utterly,  and  brought 
streams  to  drown  it,  for  he  made  such  excavations  as  might  let  the  waters  run 
under  it ;  nay,  he  demolished  the  very  signs  that  there  had  ever  been  so  great 
a  city  there.'  This  can  only  mean  that  there  was  a  good  part  of  the  city 
below  the  hill.  ''  Josephus,  xv.  Antt.  xiv.  3  ;  i.  Wars,  viii.  4. 


34^   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

in  with  the  Roman  poHcy  of  Herod,  and  especially  with 
his  plan  of  building  a  large  port  at  Caesarea,  and  holding 
the  roads  from  the  coast  to  the  interior.  Augustus  gave 
Samaria  to  Herod,  who  fortified  and  embellished  it  in 
honour  of  his  patron,  and,  as  upon  some  other  high  places 
in  Syria,  a  temple  to  Caesar  arose  where  there  had  been  a 
temple  to  Baal.^  Herod  called  it  Sebaste,  the  Greek  for 
Augusta,  and  it  is  this  name  which  has  survived  till  now 
with  the  remains  of  his  splendid  colonnades  and  gateways. 
The  Herodian  town  probably  covered  and  overflowed  the 
large  hill ;  it  is  said  to  have  been  not  less  than  two  miles 
and  a  half  in  circumference.-  Herod  settled  in  it  a 
number  of  veterans,  and  used  it  also  as  a  recruiting-ground 
for  mercenary  troops.  The  character  of  its  population — 
half  Greek,  half  Samaritan — agreed  with  his  policy  of 
building  fortresses  for  himself  on  what  was  virtually  pagan 
soil ;  while  the  thoroughly  Gentile  character  of  the  soldiers 
whom  he  recruited,  is  proved  by  their  subsequent  desertion 
to  the  Romans,  in  the  great  Jewish  revolts.^  In  spite  of 
its  re-creation  as  a  colonia  under  Septimius  Severus,^ 
Sebaste  dwindled  to  a  small  town,^  though  the  seat  of  a 
bishop,   and   the   centre   of  a   large   civil   district.      The 

^  Cf.  I  Kings  xvi.  32  with  i.   Wars,  xxi.  2. 

-  Josephus,  XV.  Anit.  viii.  5  ;  i.  Wars,  xxi.  3. 

^  In  Josephus,  xvii.  Atitt.  x.  3,  Herod's  soldiers,  and  in  9,  the  city  of 
Samaria,  are  said  to  have  gone  over  to  the  Romans.  In  ii.  Wars,  iii.  4,  and 
iv.  3,  these  same  soldiers  are  called  Sebastenes.  The  soldiers  are  called 
'^e^aaTTjvoi,  cf.  also  ii.  Wars,  xii.  5,  fiiav  iXrjv  Kokovfxivrjv  lie^aar-qvQv.  These 
passages  prove  that  the  opinion  is  wrong  which  takes  the  aireipr]  "Ze^aaT-fj 
of  Acts  xxvii.  I  for  a  cohort  of  soldiers  enlisted  at  Sebaste.  Had  it  been  so, 
its  name  would  have  run  aireiprj  KaXov/x^pr}  'Ze^acTrivCiv.  It  is,  of  course,  the 
Augustan  or  Imperial  cohort. 

*  De  Saulcy,  Numis.  de  la  7'en-e  Saittte,  p.  274,  quotes  from  Ulpian  (lib.  i. 
tit.  15),  and,  p.  280,  gives  a  coin  of  Caracalla  inscribed  COL.  L.  SEP. 
SEBASTE. 

^  The  Onomasticon,  sub  Zo/xfpui',  calls  it  a  iroXixvn],  in  the  fourth  century. 


The  Strong  Places  of  Samaria  349 

Crusaders  restored  the  Episcopal  See,  with  a  great  Gothic 
cathedral,  whose  ruins  stand  by  the  columns  of  Herod. 
But,  since  then,  the  town  has  sunk  to  a  miserable  village. 
For  as  long  as  there  ruled  in  the  land  a  power  with  no 
interests  towards  the  coast  and  the  sea,  Samaria  was  forced 
to  yield  again  to  the  more  central  Shechem  the  supremacy 
which  Ahab  and  Herod,  with  their  western  obligations,  had 
stolen  from  Shechem  to  give  her. 

To-day,  amid  the  peaceful  beauty  of  the  scene — the 
secluded  vale  covered  with  corn-fields,  through  which  the 
winding  streams  flash  and  glisten  into  the  hazy  distance, 
and  the  gentle  hill  rises  without  a  scarp  to  the  olives 
waving  over  its  summit — it  is  possible  to  appreciate 
Isaiah's  name  for  Samaria,  the  croivn  of  pride  of  EpJiraim, 
the  flower  of  his  glorious  beauty  zvhich  is  on  the  head  of  the 
fat  valley}  Only  the  more  hard  is  it  to  realise  how  often 
such  a  landscape  became  the  theatre  of  war  and  of  the 
worst  passions  of  tyranny  and  religious  strife. 

Sinister  fate  to  have  belonged  both  to  Ahab  and  to 
Herod  !     There  by  the  entrance  of  the  gate  Ahab  drew 
his   sentence   of  death   from    the   prophet   of 
Jehovah ;    and   there   they  washed  his  blood   Ahab  and 
from  his  chariot,  when  they  had  brought  him 
back  to  his  burial.^     There  Jezebel  slew  the  prophets  of 
Jehovah  and   Jehu    the   priests   of  Baal.^     There   Herod 
married  Mariamne,  and  when  in  his  jealousy  he  had  slain 
her  for  nothing,  there  she  haunted  him,  till  his  remorse 
'  would  frequently  call  for  her  and  lament  for  her  in  a  most 
indecent  manner,  and  he  was  so  far  overcome  of  his  passion 
that  he  would  command  his  servants  to  call  for  Mariamne, 

^  Isa.  xxviii.  i.  -  i  Kings  xx. 

'  I  Kings  xviii.  13  ;  2  Kings  x.  17  ff. 


350    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

as  if  she  were  still  alive  and  could  still  hear  them.'  ^   There, 
too,  he  strangled  his  two  sons.^     Like  most  of  Herod's 
magnificent  palaces,  Sebaste  was  but  a  family  shambles. 
It  is  not  without  fitness  that  a  tradition,  otherwise  unjusti- 
fied, should  have  localised  in  this  place  of  blood  the  execu- 
tion of  John  the  Baptist.     The  church  was  dedicated  to 
him,  and  his  tomb  is  still  pointed  out  in  the  rock  beneath. 
On  this  western   flank  of  Samaria  there  was  no  other 
town  of  the  first  rank.     But  the  passes  as  they  emerged 
upon  Sharon  must  have  been  guarded  by  forts. 
Western        Some  hold  that  the  present  Fer'on  due  west  of 
'  '"°"S  o     •  5g|3^s|-g  ^^g  Pir'athon,^  the  birthplace  of  one  of 
the  judges.     A  much  more  likely  site  of  importance,  both 
in  the  attack  and  defence  of  the  eastern  border  of  Mount 
Ephraim,  is  the  present  Kakon,  that  lies  a  little  way  out 
upon  the  plain.     Kakon  commands  the  entrances  to  the 
roads  up  to  Sebaste,  and  through  by  Dothan  to  Esdraelon. 
Kakon  was  always  a  frontier  position.     In  the  times  of 
the  Crusades  it  is  described  as  the  limit  of  the  territory  of 
Nablus  ;  ^  and  in  March  1799  it  was  at  Kakon  that  a  force 
from  Nablus,coming  down  by  the  Wady  esh-Sha'ir  and  over 
the  low  hills  by  Bela'  and  Shuweikeh,  met  Turkish  cavalry 
from   Acre,  and  attempted   to  check   Napoleon's    march 
northward.^     If  it  be  in  Northern  Sharon  that  we  must 
seek  for  the  Aphek,  at  which  the  Philistines  twice  assem- 
bled their  forces — once  before  invading  Israel,  and  once 
before  crossing  to  Esdraelon  ^ — there  is  no  more  suitable 
spot  than  Kakon. 

1  Josephus,  XV.  Antt.  vii.  7.  2  /^_  j^yj_  Anit.  xi.  7. 

3  Judges  xii.  15.     But  see  p.  355. 

•*  Rohricht,  Z.D.P.  V.,  x.  246,  at  Kakon  or  Cacho,  as  it  was  then  called, 
the  Knights  of  St.  John  had  a  Casale. 

^  Guerre  dc  t  Orient :  Cainpagnes  d" Egypt e  et  de  la  Syrie,  ii. 

s  I  Sam.  iv.  I  ;  xxix.  i.     But,  on  the  various  Apheks,  see  p.  401. 


The  Strong  Places  of  Samaria  3  5 1 

On  the  road  from  Shcchcm  to  Joppa — part  of  which 
runs  along  one  of  the  natural  frontiers  between  Samaria 
and  the  south  ^ — there  is  no  town  of  com-  ^j^^  shechem- 
manding  natural  strength,  except  el  Jit,  and  Joppa  road. 
none  of  the  names  either  upon  the  road  or  near  it  has  been 
satisfactorily  identified  with  any  famous  name  of  ancient 
history.-  The  other  great  road  from  Sharon  up  the  southern 
frontier  of  Samaria  to  Bethel,  passes  nothing  of  import- 
ance,^ till  at  the  junction  with  the  Shechem  Bethel  road, 
in   the  extreme  south-west  corner  of  Mount 

The  Bethel, 

Ephraim  lies  Jufna.     Though  not  mentioned  Sharon  road, 
in  the  Old  Testament,"*  it  must  at  all  times 
have  played  an  important  part  in  the  defence  or  invasion 
of  Samaria.      Jufna   is,   without    doubt,  the   Gophna   of 
Josephus.     It  was  head  of  a  toparchy  in  Judaea.^     Judas 
Maccabeus    fell    back   on    Gophna    after    his   defeat    by 

^  The  Wady  Kanah,  see  p.  249. 

^  On  the  whole  road  and  its  neighbourhood  cf.  Robinson,  L.R.,  133-141. 
El  Jit  is  probably  the  Vmwv  or  VltQGiv  of  early  Christian  writers,  who  give 
it  as  the  birthplace  of  the  Samaritan,  Simon  Magus,  Acts  viii.  9 ;  Just.  Mart. 
Apolog.  II  ;  Euseb.  H.E.  ii.  i,  13,  etc.  El  Funduk  is  the  Phondeka 
of  the  Talmud,  doubtless  an  ancient  inn,  ■KavhoKo.ov,  by  the  wayside  (cf. 
Neubauer,  Geog.  Tahn.  172).  Fer'ata,  to  the  east  of  Funduk,  has  been  sug- 
gested both  for  Pir'athon  (see  above)  and  Gideon's  Ophrah.  '  Ophra  .  .  . 
nicht  zu  weit  von  Sichem  u.  Tebes,  wohl  im  sudosten  des  westmanassitischen 
Gebieteszu  suchen.'- — Budde,  Bii.  Ri.  u.  Sa.  107.  Kefr  Thilth,  on  the  Wady 
Kanah,  has  been  claimed  as  Baal  Shalisha  (2  Kings  iv.  42) ;  the  last  spur  of 
hill  which  the  road  descends  is  occupied  by  a  village  (Hableh),  a  good  site, 
unidentified  ;  and  a  little  more  than  a  mile  out  on  the  plain  is  JiljCdiyeh, 
doubtless  an  ancient  Gilgal,  but  not  (as  Robinson  suggests)  the  place  men- 
tioned in  Joshua  xii.  23,  where  with  the  LXX.  we  ought  rather  to  read 
Galilee. 

^  Kibbiah,  which  lies  to  the  south  among  the  hills  north-east  from  Lydda,  is 
probably  Gibbethon,  which  Northern  Israel  sought  to  take  from  the  Philistines 
(i  Kings  XV.  27).  Timnath-heres  (Judges  ii.  9),  Timnath-serah  (Joshua  xix. 
50 ;  xxiv.  30),  the  city  of  Joshua  has  been  placed  at  Kefr  Haris,  nine  miles 
south  of  Shechem. 

*  Unless  it  be  the  'Ophni  of  Benjamin  (Joshua  xviii.  24). 

'  Josephus,  iii.   Wars,  iii.  5. 


352    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Antiochus  Epiphanes ;  ^  and  it  was  occupied  both  by 
Vespasian  in  his  blockade  of  Judaea  and  by  Titus  in 
his  advance  upon  Jerusalem.  Whether  Paul  was  taken  to 
Csesarea  by  this  way  or  by  Beth-horon  is  uncertain.^ 

The  southern  frontier  of  Samaria  was  defended,  when  it 
lay  so  far  south,^  by  Bethel,  and  by  the  city  of  Ephraim  or 
Ephron,*  if  the  conjecture  be  correct  that  the  latter  is  the 
present  strong  village  Et-Taiyibeh,  on  the  road  up  from 
Jericho.     Behind  these  outposts,  the  avenues  northward 
Strongholds    ^"^^  covcred  by  a  series  of  strongholds,  chiefly 
g^*^  n        °"  ^^^  ^°P^  °^  high  knolls,  like  Jiljilia,  pro- 
Frontier,        bably   the   Gilgal    of    Elijah's    last    journey,^ 
Sinjil,  a  Saint  Giles  of  Crusading  times,^  and   Kuriyat, 
one  of  the  sites  proposed  for  Korea,'''  which  Pompey  occu- 
pied on  his  march  from  Scythopolis  to  Jericho.     Some- 
where   near    Korea     lay    the    Hasmonaean     fortress    of 
Alexandrium — '  a   stronghold    fortified    with   the    utmost 
magnificence,  and  situated  on  a  high  mountain.'  ^     Alex- 
andrium played  a  frequent  part  in  the  civil  wars  of  the 
Jews,  in  the  Roman  invasions,  and  in  Herod's 

Alexandrium. 

life.     Pompey  occupied  it.     Gabinius  besieged 
it,  during  which  siege  Mark  Antony  greatly  distinguished 

^  Josephus,  i.  Wars,  i.  5, 

2  Robinson,  Bib.  Res.  iii.  77  ff.  ;  L.R.,  138.  ^  gee  p.  250  f. 

*  2  Sam.  xiii.  23  ;  2  Chron.  xiii.  19,  Hebrew  text  Ephron  ;  Hebrew  margin 
Ephraim,  John  xi.  54;  the  city  to  which  our  Lord  retired  before  the  pass- 
over.  It  was  the  Aphairema  of  i  Mace.  xi.  34 ;  xiii.  Antt.  iv.  9,  one  of 
three  toparchies  taken  from  Samaria  and  added  to  Judaea  (see  p.  254),  about 
14s  B.C.  Cf.  Schiir.  Hist.  Div.  i,  vol.  i.  246.  Schlatter,  Z.  Topog.  u.  Gesch. 
Pal.  243-246,  quotes  Hecataus  in  support  of  opinion  that  it  was  Alexander 
who  ceded  these  districts  to  the  Jews  (?). 

®  2  Kings  ii.  i. 

<*  Sinjil,  a  casale  or  manor  of  the  Order  of  St.  John,  was  presented  to  them 
by  a  Robert  of  St.  Giles,  Trutz,  Z.D.P.  V.  iv.  166.  Hence  its  name  :  one  of 
the  few  which  the  Crusaders  stamped  on  the  land. 

"'  Robinson,  Bib.  Res.  iii.  83.  8  josephus,  i.   V/ars,  vi.  5. 


The  Strong  Places  of  Samaria 


od:) 


himself.^  Herod  confined  Mariamne  within  it,'-  and  buried 
his  two  strangled  sons  there,  '  where  their  uncle  by  their 
mother's  side,  and  the  greatest  part  of  their  ancestors  had 
been  deposited.'  ^  Neither  Korea  nor  Alexandrium  has 
been  identified  past  doubt.  If  Kuriyat  be  Korea,  Alex- 
andrium, no  resemblance  of  which  name  survives  any- 
where, may  be  the  Mejdel  Beni  Fadl,  from  which  a 
Roman  road  went  down  to  Phasaelis  or  Khurbet  Bkt.  el 
Kusr  farther  south.*  But  some  recognise  Korea  in 
Kurawa,  a  name  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wady  Far'ah  on 
the  Jordan  Valley,  and  place  Alexandrium  above  it  on  the 
prominent  Horn  of  Surtabeh.  Till  traces  of  the  name 
Alexandrium  be  discovered,  the  matter  must  remain 
uncertain.^ 

We  are  now  round  upon  the  eastern  flank  of  Samaria. 
At  no  time  do  the  passes  penetrating  this  appear  to  have 

1  Josephus,  xiv.  An^l.  v.  2-4.  ^  Id.  xv.  Anti.  vii.  i. 

^  Josephus,  xvi.  Antt.  xi.  7. 

■*  Mejdel  B.  Fadl  is  2146,  Kh.  Bkt.  el  Kusr  2906  feet  above  the  sea. 

■'  Not  Gildemeister,  Z.D.P.  F.,  1881,  p.  245  as  Schltrer  says  {Hist.  Div.  i. 
vol.  I.  320  n.),  is  the  author  of  the  proposal  of  Kurawa  and  Surtabeh;  but 
Zschokke,  who  made  it  in  1866  in  Beitrdge  z.  Topogr,  dcr  westl.  Jordan^ s  Aii- 
(Jerusalem,  1866).  The  case  between  the  two  proposed  Koreas  is  this  :  (i) 
Josephus  says  '  Pompey  passed  by  Pella  and  Scythopolis,  he  came  to  Korea, 
which  is  the  first  entrance  into  Judo^a,  when  one  comes  through  the  inlands ' 
(xiv.  Atitt.  3,  4).  This  suits  both  Kurawa  and  Kuriyat,  for  both  are  on  what 
was  then  the  frontier  between  Samaria  and  Judrea.  (2)  Pompey  took  Korea 
and  Alexandrium  on  the  way  from  Scythopolis  to  Jericho.  His  straightest 
line  of  march  would  be  down  the  Ghor,  and  therefore  past  Kurawa.  But  this 
road  down  the  Ghor  was  both  dangerous  and  very  warm  :  it  was  really  not 
longer  to  come  up  into  Mount  Ephraim  as  far  as  Korea,  and  then  go  down 
to  Jericho.  (3)  There  is  no  city,  village,  or  ruin  called  Kurawa  ;  but  there 
is  a  village  at  Kuriyat.  (4)  On  Surtaba  there  are  ruins,  but  not  corre- 
sponding to  Josephus'  account  of  the  size  of  Alexandrium.  No  other  passage 
in  which  the  latter  is  mentioned  throws  any  light  on  its  locality.  The 
question  is  thus  by  no  means  so  clear  as  Schiirer  feels,  who  decides  in 
favour  of  Kurawa  and  Surtabeh. — Further  on  Alexandrium,  see  Strabo, 
xvi.  ii.  41.     On  Kurawa  see  Additional  Note  at  end  of  volume. 

Z 


354   T"^^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

been   protected  by  fortresses,  where  they  issued  on  the 

Jordan  Valley.     The  kings  of  Israel  held  both  sides  of  the 

The  eastern   Jordan,  and  built  their  fortresses  to  the  east  of 

frontier.         j^^  jjj^g  Jeroboam's  Penuel  and  Ahab's  Ramoth  ; 

while  the  towns  which   the    Herodian   dynasty  built  in 

the  Jordan   Valley  were  not   intended    for   military,  but 

Phasaeiis       ^^"^   agricultural,  purposes.     Herod   the  Great 

Archeiais.      founded  Phasaelis,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wady 

Ifjim  ;   and  the  '  village '  which  his  son  Archelaus   built 

and  called  after  himself,  Archeiais,  probably  lay  close  by 

it  to  the  south.     The  district  is  very  fertile,  but  had  not 

been  cultivated  before  it  was  thus  colonised.     It  became 

one  of  the  famous  gardens  of  Syria,  and  its  palm-groves 

stretched  till  they  met  those  of  Jericho.^ . 

But  if  the  eastern  passes  of  Mount  Ephraim  had  no 
fortresses  by  their  mouths  in  the  Jordan  Valley,  they  had 
several  guarding  their  upper  ends.    Thus,  there  were  Bezek 


1  Josephus  (xvi.  Antt.  v.  2 ;  i.  Wars,  xxi.  9),  Pliny  (H.N.  v.  15),  and 
other  ancient  writers  speak  of  the  pahns  of  Jericho,  Phasaelis,  Archeiais,  and 
Livias  ;  cf.  Ptolemy,  v.  16,  7.  Herod  left  Phasaelis  to  Salome  (xvii.  Antt. 
viii.  I,  ii.  Wars,\\.  3).  She  bequeathed  Phasaelis  and  Archeiais,  '  where  is  a 
great  plantation  of  palm-trees '  (xviii.  Antt.  ii.  2),  '  her  plantation  of  palm- 
trees  that  was  in  Phasaelis'  (ii.  Wars,  ix.  l),  to  Julia,  wife  of  Augustus. 
Brocardus  (twelfth  century)  mentions  the  village  Phasellum  in  the  Ghor,  and 
Eli  Smith  discovered  the  name  Fusail  attached  to  ruins,  a  great  spring  and 
the  wady.  The  position  of  Phasaelis,  therefore,  is  beyond  doubt.  But  the 
name  of  Archeiais  has  not  been  found.  Josephus  calls  it  a  '  village  '  (xvii. 
Antt.  xiii.  i),  and  obviously  puts  it  near  Neara — probably  Noopd^  of  the 
Onom.,  five  miles  from  Jericho.  The  Tabid.  Peuting.  fixes  it  on  the  Roman 
road,  twelve  miles  north  of  Jericho.  If  we  take  this  figure  as  right  (another, 
stating  that  Archeiais  is  only  twenty-four  miles  from  Scythopolis,  is  wrong, 
since  the  whole  distance  from  Jericho  to  Scythopolis  is  forty-eight,  not 
fifteen,  as  Schtirer  puts  it,  Div.  i.  vol.  ii.  41),  that  would  bring  us  to  a  heap  of 
ruins,  nearly  two  miles  south  of  Phasaelis,  at  the  mouth  of  the  W.  Unkur  edh 
Dhib.  The  P.E.F.  map  places  Archeiais  at  the  mouth  of  the  W.  Far'ah, 
and  Boettger  (Topogr.  Hist.  Lexicon  zu  den  Schriften  des  Fl.  Josephus)  at 
Buseiliyeh,  in  the  same  valley. 


The  Strong  Places  of  Samaria  355 

on  the  high-road  from  Shcchem  to  Bethshan,  Tirzah  (if 
Tirzah  be  Teiasir,  and  not,  as  is  more  probable,  Tulluzah) 
at  the  junction  of  the  Bethshan  and  Abel-  Bczek,  Thzab. 
Meholah  roads,  and  Thebez  at  the  top  of  the  Thebcz. 
road  down  the  Bukei'a.  Some  fortress  must  surely  have 
covered  the  top  of  the  Wady  Far'ah— Pir'athon,  I  would 
suggest,  the  name  of  which  contains  the  same  radicals  as 
Far'ah,  and  is  probably  the  same  as  the  Pharathoni  that  is 
combined  in  First  Maccabees  with  Thamnatha,  another 
name  of  which  there  are  echoes  in  the  district.^  At  the  top 
of  Wady  el  Ifjim  stood  Taanath-Shiloh.^ 

On  the  northern  frontier  the  fortresses  were  of  still 
greater  importance.  We  have  seen  that  from  the  Plain  of 
Esdraelon  there  leads  southward  into  the  very 

Strongholds 

heart   of  the  province   a  succession   of  open    of  the  north- 

11  t.-.y         crn  frontier. 

plains,  connected  by  easy  passes,     it   is   the 
widest  avenue  into  both  Samaria  and  Judsea,^  and  has  an 
issue  to  Sharon  as  well  as  to  Esdraelon.      It  was,  there- 
fore, sought  not  only  by  the  invaders  of  Israel  from  the 
north,  but  by  those  from  east  and  west*  as  well.     The 
writer  of  the  Book  of  Judith,  whether  his  book    ^j^^  g^^,^ 
be  real  history  or  not,  amply  testifies  to  the   of  Judith. 
strategical    importance    of    this    line    of    entrance     into 
Samaria.     He  calls   its  various  steps   the   '  Anabaseis  of 
the  hill-country,  for  by  them  is  the  entry  into  Judaea,'  and 

1  For  Pir'athon,  jinyiD,  see  Judges  xii.  13-15.  Ttjc  dapivada  (f>apa6wvl 
(l  Mace.  ix.  50)  is  evidently  one  place  ;  and  the  6a/xvada,  Tininah  perhaps, 
may  be  still  recognised  in  the  name  Tammun,  so  common  now  at  the  head  of 
Wady  Far'ah. 

-  Josh.  xvi.  6  :  identified  by  Van  de  Velde  with  Ta'ana. 

^  Even  Judpca,  as  the  Book  of  Judith  emphasises. 

■*  So  the  Midianites  penetrated  Mount  Ephraim  so  far  as  to  make  the 
Israelites  hide  themselves  even  at  Ophrah  (Judges  vi.  11) ;  and  the  Philistines 
appear  to  have  come  by  this  way  (l  Sam,  iv. ). 


356   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

says,  *  it  is  easy  to  stop  the  invaders  as  they  advance  (the 
pass  being  narrow)  in  double  file  at  most.'  ^ 

Commanding   the   passes   and   plains   are   a  series    of 

promontories   and   isolated    knolls  ;   some   of  these  were 

Samaria's   northern   fortresses.     The  Book  of 

Geba 

Dothan,     Judith  mentions  three,  of  which  the  farthest 

south  was  Geba,  another  Dothan,  both  still  so 

called,  '  and    a    third    Bethulia,   whose   name    cannot   be 

recovered  with  any  certainty — it   may  lurk  in   Meselieh 

or  Meithalun,  or  have  been  succeeded  by  Sanur.^ 

At  the  mouth  of  the  pass  which  leads  from  Esdraelon  lay 

En-gannim,  the  present  Jenm.     This  was  never  a  fortress, 

for  it  is  strong  only  in  water,  but  was  known 

as  the  frontier  town  between  the  later  Samaria 

and  Galilee.^       Seven   miles   north   of  Jenin,  across  the 

plain,  on  a  cape  of  Gilboa,  with  a  view  that 

sweeps  Esdraelon  east  and  west,  stood  Jezreel. 

It  was  built  by  the  same  dynasty  which  built  Samaria, 

^  .  .  .  Tcts  dvapdffeis  t-^s  dpeij'Tjs  on  Si'  awCiv  tjv  tj  eiaoSoi  els  ttjv  'lovdaiaf, 
/cat  ^v  evx^puis  ota/cwXCcrat  avToiis  TrpoajBaivovras,  arevip  ttjs  Ttpoa^dceus  oiJa-qs  eir' 
dpdpas  rovs  irdpras  dvo  (Book  of  Judith  iv.  7).  The  extract  is  from  the  letter 
of  the  high  priest  charging  the  inhabitants  of  this  neighbourhood  to  hold  the 
passes.     The  last  remark  is  exaggerated. 

-  Geba,  Judith  iii.  10.  Dothan  was  a  strong  place  in  Elisha's  time, 
2  Kings  vi.  13  ;  in  Judith  it  is  called  Dothaim,  iv.  6,  vii.  3,  18,  viii.  3. 
Bethulia,  the  chief  stronghold  of  Israel  against  Holofernes,  iv.  6,  vi.  10,  11, 
14,  vii.  1-20,  etc.,  is  placed  at  Meselieh  by  Conder,  Handbook,  p.  289; 
Sanur,  the  fortress  which  in  1830  stood  a  long  siege  before  it  yielded,  has 
also  been  suggested  with  great  probability  ;  it  is  certainly  the  chief  fortress 
on  the  line.  Professor  Marta  (quoted  in  Z.D.P.  V.  xii.  117),  on  topographical 
grounds,  says  Bethulia  was  near  the  modern  el-Barid,  N.W.  of  Jenin,  and  be- 
lieves to  have  found  in  the  present  Kh.  Haraik  el  Mellah,  an  Arabic  repetition 
of  the  name  Beit-Falo,  which  stands  for  Bethulia  in  the  Syriac  translation. 

3  In  Old  Testament  only,  Joshua  xix.  21,  xxi.  29.  Josephus  calls  it  V'r]jxd, 
ii.  Wars,  xii.  3,  Vivaia,  xx.  A7itt.  vi.  I,  iii.  Wars,  iii,  4.  The  two  former 
passages  describe  a  bitter  quarrel  at  Ginrea  between  the  Galilean  pilgrims  to 
Jerusalem  and  the  Samaritans,  which  illustrates  the  leelings  described  in 
Luke  ix.  52  ff. 


The  Strong  Places  of  Samaria  357 

and,  like  Samaria,  lay  convenient  to  their  alliance  with 
Phcenicia.  Jezreel  also  covered  the  highways  from  the 
coast  to  Jordan  and  from  Egypt  to  Damascus.^ 

As  you  look  from  Jezreel  eastward,  there  is  visible  in  the 
distance  down  Esdraelon  another  fortress,  Bethshan,  the 
position  of  which,  and  its  peculiar  relation  to  the  province 
of  Samaria  and  to  the  whole  of  Western  Palestine,  demands 
some  description. 

The  broad  Vale  of  Jezreel  comes  gently  down  between 
Gilboa  and  the  hills  of  Galilee.  Three  miles  after  it  has 
opened  round  Gilboa  to  the  south,  but  is  still 

Bethshan. 

guarded  by  the  northern  hills,  it  suddenly  drops 
over  a  bank  some  three  hundred  feet  high  into  the  valley 
of  the  Jordan.  This  bank,  or  lip,  which  runs  north  and 
south  for  nearly  five  miles,  is  cut  by  several  streams  falling 
eastward  in  narrow  ravines,  in  which  the  black  basalt  lies 
bare,  and  the  water  breaks  noisily  over  it.  Near  the  edge 
of  the  lip,  and  between  two  of  the  ravines,  rises  a  high, 
commanding  mound  that  was  once  the  citadel  of  Bethshan, 
the  other  quarters  of  which  lay  southward,  divided  by 
smaller  streams.  The  position,  which  may  be  further 
fortified  by  scattering  the  abundant  water  till  marshes 
are  formed,-  is  one  of  great  strength  and  immense  pro- 
spect. The  eye  sweeps  from  four  to  ten  miles  of  plain  all 
round,  and  follows  the  road  westward  to  Jezreel,  covers 
the  thickets  of  Jordan  where  the  fords  lie,  and  ranges  the 
edge  of  the  eastern  hills  from  Gadara  to  the  Jabbok.     It 

^  Jezre'el  is  the  modern  Zer'in.  The  first  unambiguous  references  to  it  as 
a  town  date  from  Ahab's  time  (i  Kings  xviii.  45,  46 ;  xxi.  I,  23,  etc.).  All 
previous  instances  of  the  name  Jezreel  (l  Sam.  xxix.  i,  li  ;  2  Sam.  ii.  9; 
iii.  2  ;  iv.  4  ;  i  Kings  iv.  12)  may  just  as  well  be  referred  to  the  plain.  See 
further  on  the  name,  p.  384  ft. 

"^  As  the  Byzantine  army  did  against  the  Mohammedans  in  634  A.D. 


358   The  Histo7ncal  Geography  of  the  Holy  Laud 

is  almost  the  farthest-seeing,  farthest-seen  fortress  in  the 
land,  and  lies  in  the  main  passage  between  Eastern  and 
Western  Palestine.  You  perceive  at  a  glance  the  meaning 
of  its  history.  Bethshan  ought  to  have  been  to  Samaria 
what  Jericho  was  to  Judaea — a  cover  to  the  fords  of  Jordan, 
and  a  key  to  the  passes  westward.  But  there 
western         is  this  difference :  while  Jericho  lies  well  up  to 

Palestine.  ,        t      i  1  -n  i    1  1 

the  Judaean  hills,  and  has  no  strength  apart 
from  them,  Bethshan  is  isolated,  and  strong  and  fertile 
enough  to  stand  alone.  Alone  it  has  stood — less  often 
an  outpost  of  Western  Palestine  than  a  point  of  vantage 
against  it.  The  one  event  by  which  this  town  becomes 
vivid  in  the  Old  Testament — the  hanging  of  the  bodies  of 
Saul  and  Jonathan  upon  its  walls — is  but  a  symbol  of  the 
standing  menace  and  insult  it  proved  to  Israel,  from  its 
proud  position  across  the  plain.  In  the  earlier  history, 
Bethshan  sustained  an  enclave  of  Canaanites  in  the  midst 
of  Israel's  territory  ;  in  the  later  it  belonged  neither  to 
Samaria  nor  to  Galilee,  but  was  a  free  city,  chief  of  the 
league  of  DecapoHs,  with  an  alien  and  provoking  popula- 
tion.^    In  all  its  long  history,  it  was  Jewish  for  only  thirty 

years,^    and    gladly    welcomed     Pompey,    who 

Generally  ,       .      _  .     o        t,  ,r  r  1 

in  foreign      made  it  free  again.^      Many  other    successful 

invaders,  to  whom  it  had  willingly  opened  its 

gates,  used  it  as  a  base  of  operations  against  the  land  which 

it  ought  to  have  defended — for  example,   Antiochus  the 

^  Josephus,  ii.  Wa7's,  xviii.  3. 

^  Judas  Maccabeus  had  found  it  friendly  in  164,  but  probably  from  fear  or 
policy  (2  Mace.  xii.  29-31)  it  yielded  to  John  Hyrcanus  in  107  (?)  (Josephus 
xiii.  An^L  x.  3),  and  remained  under  Jewish  rule  till  Pompey's  arrival  in 
64  B.C. 

^  Jos.  xiv.  AnU.  iii.  4.  For  its  coins  under  the  Empire,  see  De  Saulcy, 
Nuniis.  de  la  Terre  Sainte,  287-290:  Plate  xiv.  8-13.  It  was  rebuilt  by 
Gabinius. 


The  Strong  Places  of  Samaria  359 

Great  ^  and  Vespasian."-^  On  the  first  occasion  on  which 
Bethshan  was  seriously  employed  for  the  defence  of 
Western  Palestine,  the  stupidity  of  her  garrison  rendered 
her  natural  strength  of  no  avail.  In  634  A.D.  ^-j^^  ^  ^j- 
the  Byzantine  army  having  suffered  a  great  ^^isan. 
defeat  upon  the  Yarmuk,^  fell  back  across  Jordan,  fortified 
the  bank  on  which  Bethshan  stands,  and  scattered  the 
water  into  marshes.  The  Moslem  found  these  impassable, 
and  sat  down  in  blockade  for  some  months,  hoping  that 
summer  would  exhaust  the  streams.  But  before  summer 
came  the  Byzantines  rashly  attacked  them  on  their  own 
ground,  and  suffered  a  second  and  decisive  defeat.  Beisan 
surrendered  soon  after.  The  battle  was  called  the  battle 
of  Fahl,  the  Arabic  name  for  Pella,  which  lies  on  the 
opposite  side  of  Jordan  ;  but  in  the  history  of  Islam  the 
day  lives  as  the  Day  of  Beisan.  It  settled  the  fate  of 
Western  Palestine.* 

The  only  other  serious  defence  of  Bethshan  was  also 
against  Moslem  attack,  and  was  likewise  rendered  futile  by 
the  stupidity  of  the  defenders.     The  Crusaders 

Capture  by 

seem  never  to  have  paid  to  the  town  that  Saiadin, 
attention  which  its  position  invited,  and  the  pre- 
sence across  Jordan  of  the  Moslem  power  ought  to  have  ex- 
torted from  them.  Their  attempts  at  fortification  on  this 
vulnerable  portion  of  their  frontier  they  concentrated  on 
the  castle  of  Belvoir,  high  above  Bethshan  and  the  channel 
through  which  the  Moslems  were  certain  to  sweep.     The 

^  198  B.C.,  Polybius  v.  70,  who  says  that  its  cession  to  Antiochus  was  ko.Q'' 
6fi6\oyiav, 

"  iii.  H^ars,  ix.  7.  Vespasian  found  it  a  good  centre  from  which  to  operate, 
both  against  Galilee  and  Judrea. 

3  Others  hold  that  this  battle  was  fought  at  Yarmuth  (Josh.  x.  23). 

"•  Muir,  Afiiials  of  the  Early  Caliphate.  The  Caliphate:  its  Rise,  etc., 
104,  105. 


360   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Hocy  Land 

result  proved  their  error.  Bethshan,  unwalled  and  weakly 
garrisoned,  gallantly  repulsed  the  first  onset  of  Saladin,  but 
within  a  year  he  had  returned  and  destroyed  her,  with 
Jezreel  and  another  fortress  in  the  neighbourhood  called 
Afarbala  or  Fourbelet.^  Belvoir  held  out  for  eighteen 
months  more — as,  indeed,  any  well-manned  fortress  on 
that  height  could  not  help  doing — but  to  what  purpose  ? 
The  Christian  banner  at  Belvoir  waved  a  mere  signal, 
remote,  ineffectual,  above  the  flood  of  Mohammedanism 
that  speedily  covered  the  whole  land.  The  mistake  was 
to  have  neglected  Bethshan.  When  the  Crusaders  left 
Bethshan  to  its  fate,  they  sealed  their  own. 

These  few  campaigns  will  have  shown  us  the  strategical 
importance  of  this  remarkable  town.  But,  from  its  position 
Other  history  °"  ^^^  high-road  between  Damascus  and  Egypt, 
ofBeisan.  Betlishan  must  have  seen  many  other  sights 
and  persons  of  great  name  in  history.  It  can  scarcely 
have  failed  to  fall  in  the  way  of  Thothmes  lll.,^  but  the 
earliest  note  of  it  in  Egyptian  literature  occurs  in  the 
fourteenth  century  B.C.,  in  the  travels  of  the  Mohar,  who 
passed  through  it  in  his  chariot :  '  Represent  to  me  Baita- 
sha-al  as  well  as  Keriathaal :  the  fords  of  the  Jordan — how 
does  one  cross  them  ? — let  me  know  the  passage  to  enter 
Mageddo.'  ^  The  name  does  not  seem  to  occur  in  the  lists 
of  Assyrian    and    Babylonian   conquests,   but    Holofernes 

^  Boha-ed-Din,  Life  of  Saladin,   c.   24  (ed.   Schultens,   pp.    53,   54 ;   cf. 

William  of  Tyre,  xxii.  26).     Afarbala,  1  Jlj^£,  is  doubtless  the  Crusaders' 

Fourbelet,  or  Forbelet,  a  castle  belonging  to  the  Hospitallers,  described  as 
not  far  from  Jordan,  and  south  of  Beisan.  Rey  suggests  the  Kala'at  Maleh 
((?/.  cit.  427). 

*  In  the  list  of  places  conquered  by  him  in  Palestine  is  a  Bathshal ;  but 
neither  Mr.  Tomkins  nor  Professor  Sayce  identifies  this  with  Bethshan. 
II.  Rec.  of  Past,  v.  52.  Miiller  {op.  cit.  p.  193)  denies  that  Bet-sa-el  =  Beth- 
shan. ^  I.  Rec.  of  Past,  ii.  112  ;  cf.  II.  Id.  v.  52. 


The  Strong  Places  of  Saviaria  361 


rested  here,  and  if  both  he  as  well  as  Pompey  and  Saladin 
— all  three  while  advancing  from  Damascus  to  invade 
Western  Palestine  —  occupied  Bethshan,  then  Tiglath 
Pileser  and  Sargon,  with  the  same  line  of  march,  very 
probably  did  so  too.  An  older  Cleopatra  visited  Bethshan 
when  she  made  her  treaty  with  Alexander  Janneus  ;  ^  and 
Vespasian  caused  his  legions  to  winter  in  its  warmth.^ 
Josephus  says  that  in  his  time  Bethshan — then  called 
Scythopolis — was  the  largest  city  of  the  Decapolis.^  Its 
territory  was  wide  and  rich>  The  ruins  remaining  attest 
a  high  degree  of  wealth  and  culture.  Several  temples 
have  been  traced,  and  there  is  a  large  amphitheatre,  of 
which  so  much  is  still  preserved  that  it  requires  little 
effort  to  summon  up  about  you,  as  you  stand  in  the  arena, 
the  throng  and  passion  of  the  city  in  its  Greek  days. 
Twelve  black  basalt  rows  of  benches  for  the  citizens — 
semicircles  of  nearly  two  hundred  feet  in  diameter — rise 
eastward  just  so  high  as  to  let  the  actors  upon  the  arena 
see,  over  the  mass  of  faces,  the  line  of  the  Gilead  hills  on 
the  other  side  of  Jordan.^  No  Christian  can  stand  among 
these  ruins — the  best  preserved  on  the  west  of  the  Jordan — 
— without  remembering  that  during  the  persecutions  of 
Decius  and  Diocletian  the  amphitheatres  of  Syria  were 
used  for  the  slaughter  of  the  confessors  of  Christ  The 
citadel  frowned  over  all  from  the  north. 

*  Josephus,  xiii.  Antt.  xiii.  2. 

-  iv.  Wars,  ii.  i.     Bethshan  Hes  320  feet  below  the  sea. 

^  iii.  Wars,  ix.  7. 

■*  Polybius  V.  70  ;  Josephus,  Life,  9.     It  bordered  with  Gadaia. 

*  There  are  fourteen  entrances — for  spectators,  for  actors,  for  wild  beasts — 
and  behind  these,  beneath  the  seats,  the  passages  and  exits  are  still  well 
preserved.  Half  way  up  the  benches  are  certain  recesses,  which  are  said  to 
have  contained  brass  sounding  tubes  (of.  Irby  and  ^Mangles'  Travels,  301,  302  ; 
Robinson,  L.R.  318). 


o 


62    T/ie  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


In  Christian  times  Bethshan  was  still  a  noble  city,^  an 
episcopal  see,^  full  of  monks,  and  the  birthplace  of  some 
Christian  literature.^  The  fertile  country  around  was  well 
cultivated  in  ancient  times  ;  like  Jericho,  the  town  was  sur- 
rounded by  palm  groves.  The  linen  of  Scythopolis  was 
famed  all  over  the  world.^  Moslem  war  and  waste  swept  all 
this  away.  The  Crusaders,  as  we  have  seen,  did  little  to 
revive  the  town,  and,  since  Saladin  finally  dismantled  it, 
Beisan  has  been  little  more  than  the  squalid  village  which 
now  gathers  to  the  south  of  the  unoccupied  citadel.  There 
are  few  sites  which  promise  richer  spoil  beneath  their  rubbish 
to  the  first  happy  explorer  with  permission  to  excavate. 
But  meantime,  under  shadow  of  the  high  mound,  where 
the  streams  rattle  down  in  the  beds  they  have  worn  deep 
for  thousands  of  years,  and  Jordan  lies  in  front,  and 
Gilead  rises  over  Jordan,  it  is  possible  to  dream  very  vivid 
dreams  of  a  past  in  which  Saul  and  Judas  Maccabeus, 
Pompey,  Cleopatra  and  Vespasian,  the  Byzantines  and 
first  Moslem  invaders,  the  Crusaders  and  Saladin,  have  all 
played  a  part. 

With  regard  to  the  names  of  this  town,  it  is  well  known 
that  it  had  two,  and  not  so  well  known  that,  for  a  period,  it 
had  also  a  third.  In  the  Old  Testament  it  is  Bethsha'an 
or  Bethshan.^     In  the  Septuagint,  the  Second  Maccabees, 


^  Euseb.  Onom.  Bethsan,  eTrtayjiJios. 

-  For  a  list  of  its  bishops  (the  bishop  of  the  time  was  present  at  Nice)  see 
Reland,  Palixst.,  under  S;ythopoHs.  ^  Basilides  and  Cyril. 

*  On  the  palms,  Sozomen,  H.E.  viii.  13  (in  1891  there  was  one  young 
palm  thirty  feet  high) ;  on  the  linen,  Totius  Orbis  Descriptio  (anonymous, 
fourth  century),  in  Geogr.  Graci  min.,  ed.  MUller,  ii.  ;  of.  Marquardt,  Das 
Privatleben  der  K'dmer,  ii.  466. 

^  jStJ'  n''3,  Josh.  xvii.  II,  16  ;  Judges  i.  27  ;  I  Kings  iv.  12  ;  I  Chron.  vii. 
29 — from  which  verse  we  see  that  Bethshaan  was  a  district  as  well  as  a  town. 
But  |t5*  IT'S,  I  Sam.  xxxi.  10,  12;  2  Sam.  xxi.  12, 


The  SU'ong  Places  of  Samaria  36 


o 


Josephus,  and  all  Greek  and  Latin  literature,  it  is  called 
Scythopolis.^  But  it  claimed  also,  as  so  many  other 
towns  did,  to  have  been  Nysa,  where  the  infant 

The  names 

Bacchus  was  nursed  by  the  nymphs;  and  this    Bethshanand 

.  Scythopolis. 

name  ap[)cars  both  on  the  town  s  corns  and  m 
classical  writers.^  Both  Bethshan  and  Scythopolis  were 
extant  till  the  Crusades,^  since  which  an  Arabic  contrac- 
tion of  Bethshan,  Beisan,  has  prevailed.  Beth-sha'an,  in 
the  longer  of  the  two  forms  in  which  it  is  given  in  Hebrew, 
means  the  House  of  Security,  or  Tranquillity,  or  even,  in  a 
bad  sense.  Self-confidence  ;  any  of  which  would  be  appro- 
priate to  the  natural  strength  and  fertility  of  so  self-con- 
tained a  site,  while  the  last  might  well  have  been  bestowed 
by  the  Hebrews  upon  a  city  which  so  long  defied  them. 
This,  however,  is  uncertain  ;  and  it  is  possible  that  we  have 
here  simply  the  name  of  some  deity,  as  in  Beth-Dagon  and 
Beth-Peor.  The  origin  of  the  name  Scythopolis,  or  Scyto- 
polis,  is  as  obscure.  The  most  obvious  derivation  of  course 
is  that  explicitly  made  in  one  or  two  occurrences  of  the 
name  as  %kv6mv  ttoXl^;,  or.  City  of  the  Scythians,  who  are 
said  by  Herodotus  to  have  invaded  Palestine  in  the  reign 
of  Psammetichus.*  Bethshan  lies  on  the  line  of  such  an 
invasion.     It  has  also  been  suggested  that  Scythopolis  is 

^  2iKv6wi>  7r6Xts,  LXX.,  Judges  i.  27;  Judith  iii.  10;  2  Mace.  xii.  29; 
Polybius  V.  70.  But  IIkvOottoXis,  Josephus  xii.  Ant(.  viii.  5  ;  xiii.  id.  vi.  i  ; 
riiny,  If.JV.  V.  16  (18),  etc.  But  Scytopolis,  Totius  Orbis  Descriptio  in  Geogr. 
Gnv.  min.,  ed.  jNIiiller,  ii. 

-  VVmy,  H.N.  v.  16  (18):  Scythopolim  anlea  Nysam.  So  also  Stephen 
Byzantinus.  For  the  coins,  De  Saulcy,  PI.  xiv.  8-13,  No.  10,  NTSA-IEPA; 
No.  1 1,  NT2-2KTeO-IEPA.  Others  have  a  figure  supposed  to  be  the  nymph 
suckling  Bacchus.     The  coins  date  from  Nero  to  Gordian. 

^  Fetellus  {circa  1130)  gives  both. 

^  Herod,  i.  103,  105.  V\\v\y,H.N.  v.  16  (18),  says  Bacchus  himself  settled 
the  Scythians  there  !  It  is  useless  to  quote  on  this  point  Syncellus,  a  historian 
of  the  eighth  century. 


364   The  Histojdcal  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Succothopolis  ^ — the  name  Succoth  occurring  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood— but  Robinson  rightly  objects  to  the  proba- 
bility of  such  a  hybrid,  the  like  of  which  indeed  does  not 
elsewhere  occur.  It  may,  however,  easily  have  happened 
that  the  Greek  colonists,  hearing  some  Semitic  name  in  the 
district,  should  have  wrongly  supposed  it  to  be  the  same  as 
'  Scythian.'  This  Semitic  name  may  have  been  Succoth  ; 
or  it  is  just  possible  that  it  was  that  word  of  similar  radicals 
to  Succoth,  which  is  used  in  the  Old  Testament  as  a 
synonym  for  the  second  syllable  of  Beth-sha'an,  if  Beth- 
sha'an  be  really  the  House  of  Security? 

^  By  Reland,  with  whom  Gesenius  agrees  :    Thesaurus,  sub  voce  JXCJ'  JT'^- 

"  ri3D,  to  be  still  ox  siletit,  is  related  to  tOptJ',  sh'k't,  which  is  synonymous 

with  (i^C.     It  is  used  like  jXC  of  land  as  well  as  men.     See  Judges  iii.  1 1 

and  parallel  passages.     The  two  words  occur  together  in  Ter.  xxx,  10  and 

xlvi.  27  :  INJ^'I  ^\>m. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 
THE    QUESTION    OF    SYCHAR 


305 


For  this  Chapter  co7isult  Maps  I.  and  V. 


THE  QUESTION  OF  SYCHAR 

THE  identification  of  Sychar  would  be  a  small  matter, 
if  it  were  not  that  its  difficulty,  as  well  as  that  of 
the  whole  topography  of  the  Fourth  Chapter  of  John,  has 
been  made  the  ground,  by  some  for  doubting,  by  others 
for  denying,  that  the  author  of  the  Gospel  was  personally 
acquainted  with  the  geography  of  Palestine.  A  well- 
known  writer  has  said  bluntly  that  there  was  no  such  place 
as  Sychar,  and  that  the  Gospel  commits  a  blunder.^  And 
recently  another  writer  ^  has  stated  a  number  of  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  accepting  the  Fourth  of  John  as  the  account 
of  an  eye-witness.  The  time  has  come  for  a  revision  of  the 
whole  argument.  I  hope,  by  pointing  out  some  material 
things  that  have  hitherto  been  overlooked,  to  meet  the 
difficulties,  and  if  not  to  place  the  identification  of  Sychar 
beyond  doubt,  at  least  to  adduce  sufficient  evidence  in 
its  support  to  prove  the  charge  of  mistake  unfounded  and 
even  absurd. 

The  objections  made  to  the  topography  of  Fourth  John 
are  three  : — i.  Sychar  is  not  known  to  us  as  a  city  of 
Samaria.  2.  Even  if  Sychar  be  proved  to  be  either 
Shechem  or  the  present  El  'Askar,  no  woman  seeking  water 
would  have  come  from  it  to  Jacob's  Well.      3.  Exposi- 

'  Supernatural  Kdigion,  ii.  427. 

-  Mr.  Cross,  Critical  Review  iox  ]w\y  1892. 

367 


368   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

tions,  based  on  the  accuracy  of  the  narrative,  involve  an 
error  concerning  the  direction  of  the  main  road  through 
Samaria  to  GaHlee, 

I.  Supernatural  Religio7i  holds  it  evident  that  there  was 
no  such  place  as  Sychar,  and  that  '  a  very  significant 
mistake '  has  been  committed  by  the  author  of  John's 
Gospel — significant,  that  is,  of  his  ignorance  of  Pales- 
tine. 

Now,  to  begin  with,  let  us  remember  that  the  writer  of 
the  Fourth  Gospel  is  admitted  to  have  been  a  man  well 
acquainted  with  the  Old  Testament,  and  that  in  the  Old 
Testament  the  position  of  the  locality  in  question,  the 
parcel  of  ground  that  facob  gave  to  his  son  foseph,  is  more 
than  once  carefully  fixed.  In  Genesis  xxxiii.  19  it  is 
described  as  in  face  of,  or  to  the  east  of,  the  city  of  Shechem  ;  ^ 
and  in  Joshua  xxiv.  32  as  in  Shechem.  It  is  inconceivable 
that,  with  these  passages  before  him,  any  student  of  the 
Old  Testament  would,  in  mere  error,  have  substituted 
Sychar  for  Sychem — Sf%a/3  for  Si'%eyu..  But  the  point 
goes  further.  Had  the  writer  of  the  Gospel  possessed  only 
that  knowledge  of  the  locality  which  the  Old  Testament 
gave  him,  it  is  most  probable  that  like  Stephen  ^  he  would 
have  used  the  name  Sy%e//,.  That  he  introduces  another 
name,  is  surely  a  sign  that  he  employed  another  source  of 
information.  All  now  agree  that  Sychar  is  not  a  copyist's 
error.^  If,  then,  the  author  himself  wrote  it,  he  did  so  in 
spite  of  two  well-known  passages  in  the  Qld  Testament — 
with  which  his  familiarity  is  evident — and,  therefore,  it  may 

^  That  is,  if  we  adopt  the  rendering  which  takes  Shalem  adverbially,  in 
peace.  2  Acts  vii.  i6. 

2  This  was  Jerome's  way  out  of  the  difficulty. 


The  Questio7i  of  Sy char  369 

safely  be  presumed,  because  of  his  acquaintance  with  Sychar 
as  a  name  in  the  topography  of  Samaria. 

In  that  topography  Sychar  can  have  stood — either  as  a 
second  name  for  Shechem,  or  as  the  name  of  another  place 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Shechem. 

For  the  first  of  these  alternatives  a  good  deal  has  been 
said,  but  all  in  the  way  of  hypothesis.  It  is  within  the 
bounds  of  possibility,  that,  by  their  favourite  habit  of  play- 
ing upon  names,  the  Jews  may  have  called  Shechem 
Sheqer, /t^/j-^,  or  Shikor,  drunken}  But  we  have  absolutely 
no  proof  of  their  ever  having  done  so,  and  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  the  passage  in  Isaiah  xxviii.,  which  is  quoted  in  sup- 
port of  the  second,  and  etymologically  the  only  possible, 
derivation  for  Sychar,  does  not  describe  Shechem  at  all, 
but  the  city  of  Samaria,  or  Sebaste,  six  miles  away. 
Trench's  idea,  that  John,  in  his  habit  of  symbolising,  was 
himself  the  author  of  the  nickname,  is  too  far-fetched.- 

We  turn,  therefore,  to  the  second  possibility,  that  Sychar 
was  the  name  of  a  place  other  than  Shechem,  but,  like 
Shechem,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  parcel  Evidence  for 
of  ground  which  Jacob  bought.     For  this  the  ^J*^.^^^^^ 
first  evidence  we  get  is  in  the  beginning  of  the  '°^^"- 
fourth  century,  when  two  visitors  to  the  land,  Eusebius  and 
the  Bordeaux  Pilgrim   (the  latter  about  A.D.   333),  both 
mention  a  Sychar,  distinct  from   Shechem, —        ^^^.^ 
lying,  says  the  former,  before  Neapolis,  the  pre-     Christian. 
sent  Nabhis,^  and  the  latter  adds  that  it  was  a  Roman  mile 

^p'^,  falsehood,  was  applied  to  idols  (Hab.  ii.  iS).  In  Isaiah  xxviii.  re- 
ference is  made  to  drunkenness,  113^',  as  the  notorious  sinners  of  Samaria. 

-  Studies  in  the  Gospels,  86. 

^  From  which  Eusebius  also  distinguishes  Shechem,  describing  the  latter 
as  in  the  suburbs  of  Neapolis,  and  holding  Joseph's  tomb.  (Euseb.,  Gno- 
masticon. ) 

2  A 


370   The  Histo7'ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

from  Shechem.  Jerome,  it  is  true,  asserts  that  Shechem 
and  Sychar  are  the  same  ;  but  he  says  so  without  evidence 
except  such  as  all  now  agree  to  be  unfounded,'^  and  his 
negative  assertion  cannot  stand  against  the  other  two,  who 
say  that  they  saw  this  Sychar  distinct  from  Shechem — the 
less  so,  that  in  translating  Eusebius  Jerome  adopts  his 
Sychar  without  question.  The  next  traces  of  a  separate 
Sychar  are  found  in  mediaeval  writers.  The  Abbot  Daniel 
(1106-1107)  speaks  of  'the  hamlet   of  Jacob 

Mediseval. 

called  Sichar.  Jacob's  well  is  there.  Near 
this  place,  at  half  a  verst  away,  is  the  town  of  Samaria 
.  .  .  at  present  called  Neapolis.'  Fetellus  (1130)  says: 
'  A  mile  from  Sichem  is  the  town  of  Sychar,  in  it  is  the 
fountain  of  Jacob,  which  however  is  a  well.'  John  of 
Wurzburg  (i  160- 1 170)  says:  'Sichem  is  to-day  called 
Neapolis.  Sichar  is  east  of  Sichem,  near  to  the  field 
which  Jacob  gave  to  his  son,  wherein  is  the  well  of  Jacob, 
at  which  place  a  church  is  now  being  built'  ^  Again  in 
the  Samaritan  Chronicle,  the  latest  possible  date  of  which 
is  the  fourteenth  century,  there  occurs  the  name  of  a  town 
'  apparently  near  Shechem,  which  is  spelt  Ischar,'  with 
initial  Aleph,  which  is  merely  a  vulgar  pronunciation  of 
Sychar.^  Quaresmius,  who  wrote  about  1630,^  reports  that 
Brocardus  (1283)  saw  'a  certain  large  city  deserted  and  in 
ruins,  believed  to  have  been  that  ancient  Sichem,  to  the 
left '  or  north  *  of  Jacob's  well  : '  '  the  natives  told  me  the 

^  Viz.,  the  confusion  by  some  copyist  of  Sychar  with  Sychem. 

^  I  quote  Daniel  (who  very  curiously  confounds  Neapolis  with  Sebaste), 
Fetellus,  and  John  of  Wurzburg,  from  the  translations  of  the  Palestine 
Pilgrims'  Text  Society.  ^  Conder,  Tent  Work,  41. 

■*  '  Elucidatio  Terrce  SanctcE,''  Lib.  vii.,  Peregr.  i.  Cap.  ix.  That  it  is  the 
report  of  Brocardus  which  Quaresmius  gives,  and  not  his  own,  is  clear  from 
the  next  paragraph,  where  he  says  :  '  Fateor  me  non  vidisse  nisi  Neapolem, 
nee  vetus  Sychar,'  etc. 


The  Question  of  Sy char  371 

place  is  now  called  Istar  by  them.'  Then  the  traveller 
Berggren  found  the  name  'Askar  or  'Asgar,  with  initial 
'Ain,  given  both  to  a  spring  'Ain  el  'Askar,  which  he 
identifies    with    Jacob's    well,   and — which   is 

Modern. 

much  more  important  for  our  question — to  the 
whole  plain  below,  the  Sahil  el  'Askar.^  And,  finally,  the 
name  still  attaches  to  a  few  ruins  and  hovels  at  the  foot  of 
Mount  Ebal,  about  one  mile  and  three-quarters  east  north- 
east from  Nablus  and  little  over  half  a  mile  north  from 
Jacob's  well.-  The  question  is.  Can  'Askar  be  derived 
from  Sychar  through  Ischar  ?  Robinson  says  no :  '  the 
fact  that  'Askar  begins  with   the  letter   'Ain 

.  The  names 

excludes  all  idea  of  affinity  with  the  name  Sycharand 
Sychar.'  ^  But  Robinson  is  wrong.  Though 
the  tendency  is  the  other  way,  there  are  cases  known  in 
which  'Ain  has  displaced  Aleph.  Conder  says  that  the 
Samaritans  themselves  in  translating  their  chronicle  into 
Arabic  call  Ischar  'Askar.**  And  it  has  hitherto  been  over- 
looked that  among  the  place-names  of  Palestine  wc  have 
a  strictly  analogous  case.  Ascalon  in  Hebrew  begins  with 
an  Aleph,  but  in  Arabic  this  has  changed  to  an  initial 
'Ain.  The  case,  therefore,  for  'Askar,  so  far  from  being 
barred  by  the  rules  of  the  language,  comes  through  this 
last  test  in  all  its  strength.  And  its  strength,  in  short,  is 
this.     That  in  the  fourth  century  two  authori- 

.  r-       1  T     •  Conclusion. 

ties  independently  describe  a  Sychar  distinct 
from  Shechem  ;  that  in  the  twelfth  century  at  least  three 
travellers,  and  in  the  thirteenth  at  least  one,  do  the  same, 
the  latter  also  quoting  a  corrupt  but  still  possible  variation 

^  Reisc,  ii.  267. 

-  First   descriljcd  by  Canon  Williams  and   since  with  greatest  detail  by 
Major  Conder,  Tent  Work,  40-42. 

^  Later  Researches,  133.  *   7c)it  Work,  41. 


372    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

of  the  name ;  that  in  the  fourteenth  the  Samaritan 
Chronicle  mentions  another  form  of  the  name  ;  and  that 
modern  travellers  find  a  third  possible  variation  of  it  not 
only  applied  to  a  village  suiting  the  site  described  by  the 
authorities  in  the  fourth  century,  but  important  enough  to 
cover  all  the  plain  about  the  village.  All  this  is  perhaps 
not  conclusive,  but  at  least  very  strong,  proof  for  the 
identification  of  'Askar  with  Sychar.  Certainly  there  is 
enough  of  it  to  expose  the  dictum  of  Sitpernatiiral 
Religion,  that  it  is  *  evident '  there  was  no  such  place  as 
Sychar,  and  that  the  writer  of  the  Gospel  made  '  a  mis- 
take.' The  *  evidence,'  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  all  the  other 
way. 

Of  course  it  may  be  said  that  the  name  Sychar  was 
fastened  on  the  district  by  the  Christian  pilgrims  and 
sacred-site  jobbers  of  the  fourth  century — who  were  forced 
to  find  a  place  for  it  since  it  occurred  in  the  Gospel.  But 
to  this  the  answer  is  obvious.  For  many  centuries  after 
the  fourth  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  Jerome  was  right, 
and  that  Shechem  and  Sychar  were  the  same  place.^  That 
all  this  time,  in  spite  of  ecclesiastical  tradition,  the  name 
Sychar  should  have  continued  to  exist  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, and  solely  among  the  natives,  is  a  strong  proof  of 
its  originality — of  its  having  been  from  the  first  a  native 
and  not  an  artificial  name. 

^  By,  among  others,  Arculf,  700;  Saevvulf,  apparently,  1102  ;  Theoderich, 
1172;  Sir  J.  Maundeville,  1322;  Tuchem  of  Nurnberg,  1480.  A  curious 
opinion  is  offered  by  the  Graf  zu  Soh^is  (1483)  that  'on  the  right  hand  of 
this  well'  of  Jacob,  that  is,  to  the  south  of  it,  '  ist  ein  alter  grosser  Fleck 
aber  ode,  dass  ich  meyne  die  alte  Statt  Sichem  seyn  gewesen,  dann  gross  alt 
Gebaw  da  ist.  Und  liget  von  dem  abgenanten  Brunnen  Jacob  zwen  stein- 
wtirff  weit,  gar  an  einer  lustigen  Stett,  allein  dass  es  Wasser  mangelt.'  But 
from  Neapolis  the  well  was  two  bow-shots  off,  so  that  '  some  say  Napolis  is 
Thebes.' 


The  Question  of  Sy char  373 

2.  This  still  leaves  us  with  the  second  difficulty. 
Granted  that  Sychar  is  either  Shechem,  the  present 
Nablus,  or  'Askar,  is  it  likely  that  any  woman  ^  Jacob's 
from  them,  seeking  water,  should  have  come  '^^"• 
past  streams  in  their  immediate  neighbourhood  to  the 
more  distant,  the  deep  and  scanty  well  of  Jacob  ?  There 
is  a  copious  fountain  in  'Askar :  and  a  stream,  capable  of 
turning  a  mill,  flows  down  the  valley  only  'a  few  rods'^  from 
Jacob's  well.  This  the  woman,  if  coming  from  'Askar,  must 
have  crossed,  while,  if  coming  from  Shechem,  she  must  have 
passed  near  it  and  many  other  sources  of  water.  Jacob's  well 
itself  is  over  one  hundred  feet  deep,^  and  is  often  dry. 

Now  in  answer  to  this,  it  may  be  justly  said  that  the 
real  difficulty  is  not  why  the  woman  should  have  come  to 
the  well,  but  why  the  well  should  be  there  at  all.  That 
any  one  should  have  dug  so  deep  a  well  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  so  many  streams  is  most  perplexing, 
unless  indeed  in  those  far  away  summers  the  surface 
streams  ran  dry,  and  the  well  was  dug  so  deep  that  it 
might  catch  their  fainting  waters  below  the  surface.^  Be 
that  as  it  may,  the  well  is  there — a  fact  testifying  past  all 
doubt  the  possibility  of  the  fact  of  the  woman's  use  of  it. 
Specially  dug  for  man's  use  by  man,  how  impressively 
among  the  natural  streams  around  does  it  explain  the 
intensity  of  the  woman's  words  :  Our  father  Jacob  gave  21s 
the  well.  Of  course — it  was  given,  not  found.  The  signs  of 
labour  and  expense  stand  out  upon  it  all  the  more  patheti- 

^  Robinson. 

-  'Tliirty-five  yards,'  Maundrell  ;  '  one  hundred  and  five  feet,'  Holmes. 

•'  Robinson  indeed  suggests  that  an  earthquake  may  have  changed  the 
whole  disposition  of  the  waters  in  the  Vale  of  Shechem  since  the  time  of  the 
narrative.  Possible,  for  on  that  high  pass  very  little  could  tilt  the  watershed 
to  the  west,  but  in  an  argument  like  this  we  do  not  dare  to  count  on  it. 


374   ^-^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

cally  for  the  freedom  of  the  waters  that  come  ratthng  down 
the  vale ;  and  must,  one  feels,  have  had  their  share  in 
increasing  the  fondness  of  that  tradition  which,  possibly, 
was  the  attraction  that  drew  Jacob's  fanatic  children  to  its 
scantier  supplies.^ 

It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  the  well  is  now  dry,  for 
many  feet  of  it  are  choked  with  stones.  Robinson  says 
there  is  a  spring  in  it,"  Conder  that  it  fills  by  infiltration. 
If  either  of  these  be  correct,  then  we  can  understand  the 
double  titles  given  to  it  in  the  narrative,  both  of  which  our 
version  renders  by  well.  It  is  JacoU s  fotmtain,  ir-tfii]  (v.  5)  ; 
but  the  pit,  TO  (f>peap,  is  deep  (v.  1 1)  ;  and  Jacob  gave  us  the 
pit  {v.  12).  It  is  by  little  touches  like  these,  and  by  the 
agreement  of  the  rest  of  the  topography — Mount  Gerizim, 
and  the  road  from  Judaea  to  Galilee — (as  well  as  by  the 
unbroken  traditions  of  three  religions),  that  we  feel  sure 
that  this  is  the  Jacob's  well  intended  by  the  writer,  and 
that  he  had  seen  the  place. 

Thus,  then,  the  present  topography,  so  far  from  contra- 
dicting, justifies  the  narrative.  The  author  knew  the  place 
about  which  he  was  writing. 

3.  By  Jacob's  well  the  great  north  road  through 
Samaria  forks,  and  the  well  lies  in  the  fork.  One 
3.  The  roads  branch  turns  westward  up  the  vale  past 
bySychar.  Shechem,  and  so  on  round  the  west  of  Ebal 
to  Sebaste,  and  Jenin.  The  other  holds  north  across 
the  mouth  of  the  vale  and  past  'Askar.  Now  ex- 
ception has  been  taken  ^  to  Lightfoot's  and  Stanley's 
speaking    of  this    second    road    as    the    main    road    to 

^  Porter  mentions  a  favourite  well  outside  Damascus  which  drew  the 
inhabitants  a  mile  away  from  their  own  abundant  waters. 

-  Lat.  Res.  lo8.  ^  gy  jyj^   Cross,  Critical  Revietv,  July  1892. 


The  Question  of  Sy char  375 

Galilee.  He  says  the  latter  has  always  gone  by  Shechem 
and  Sebaste,  and  that  the  road  which  holds  across  the 
mouth  of  the  vale  turns  north-east  into  the  Jordan  Valley 
at  Bethshan,  and  leads  not  to  Upper  Galilee,  where  our 
Lord  was  going,  but  to  Tiberias  and  the  Lake.  He  is 
correct  when  he  says  the  Shechem  road  is  the  ordinary 
road,  but  wrong  in  saying  there  is  not  a  road  across  the 
mouth  of  the  vale  and  so  on  to  Jenln.  As  he  admits, 
Robinson  was  told  of  such  a  road  ;  and  I  have  to  report 
that  in  1891,  being  anxious  to  avoid  the  road  by  Sebaste, 
which  I  had  already  traversed,  I  was  informed  by  my 
muleteers  that  I  could  reach  Jentn  by  following  the 
Bethshan  road,  and,  when  it  struck  east,  keeping  due 
north.  Moreover,  this  is  a  much  more  natural  direction 
for  the  trunk  road  to  the  north  to  follow  than  round  by 
Shechem  and  Sebaste.  For  if  any  one  will  take  the 
Survey  Map,  he  will  see  this  direction  to  be  on  the  line 
of  that  series  of  plains  which  come  right  down  from 
Esdraelon  to  opposite  the  Vale  of  Shechem  ;  ^  while  the 
road  round  by  Sebaste  has  to  climb  a  great  barrier  of 
hills.  Besides,  such  a  road  would  be  preferred  by  our 
Lord,  avoiding  as  it  did  both  Shechem  and  Sebaste,  two 
large  towns,  one  Greek,  the  other  Samaritan,  close  to  which, 
if  He  turned  up  the  valley,  He  must  needs  have  passed. 

So  that  Lightfoot  and  Stanley  are  probably  correct ; 
but  the  point  is  a  small  one,  and  does  not  affect  the  nar- 
rative in  John.  Upon  the  data  given  there,  our  Lord  and 
His  disciples,  after  their  rest  at  Jacob's  well,  may  have 
intended  to  take  any  one  of  the  three  roads  ;  and  that 
whether  the  city  to  which  the  disciples  went  to  buy  bread 
was  Shechem  or  was  'Askar. 

^  See  p.  327  f. 


7 


i,^:,. 


;,^^^ 


CHAPTER    XIX 
ESDRAELON 


877 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Maps  I.,  TIT.  and  VI. 


ESDRAELON 

IN  our  survey  of  Samaria  we  have  already  found  our- 
selves drawn  out  upon  the  great  Plain  of  Esdraelon. 
The  plain  has  come  up  to  meet  us  among  the  Esdraelon 
Samarian  hills.  Carmel  and  Gilboa  encompass  ^^^  Samana. 
it ;  half  a  dozen  Samarian  strongholds  face  each  other 
across  its  southern  bays.  Nature  has  manifestly  set 
Esdraelon  in  the  arms  of  Samaria.  Accordingly,  in  the 
Old  Testament  times  they  shared,  for  the  most  part,  the 
same  history  ;  in  tribal  days,  though  Esdraelon  was 
assigned  to  Zebulun  and  Issachar,  Manasseh,  the  keeper 
of  the  hills  to  the  south,  claimed  towns  upon  it ;  ^  in  the 
days  of  the  kingdom,  the  chariots  of  the  Samarian  kings,- 
the  footsteps  of  the  Samarian  prophets,  traversed  Esdraelon 
from  Carmel  to  Jordan.-^  But  after  the  Exile  the  Samari- 
tan -  Schism — confounder  of  so  many  natural  arrangements 
— divorced  the  plain  from  the  hills  which  embrace  it,  and 
Esdraelon  was  counted  not  to  the  province  of  Samaria, 
but  to  that  of  Galilee,  the  southern  frontier  of  which  was 
coincident  with  its  own  southern  edge.^  More  interesting, 
however,  than  the  connection  of  either  north  or  south  with 
Esdraelon,  is  the  separation  which  this  great  plain  effects 
between  them,  the  break  it  causes  in  the  central  range  of 

^  Josh.  xvii.  1 1  ff.  ;  xix.  10-23.  -  See  p.  330. 

3  I  Kings  xviii.  44-46 ;  2  Kings  iv.  9.  *  Josephus,  ii.  />./.  iii.  4. 

379 


380  The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Palestine,  the  clear  passage  it  affords  from  the  coast  to  the 
Jordan.     This  has  given  Esdraelon  a  history  of  its  own. 

Esdraelon  is  usually  regarded  as  one  plain  under  one 

name  from  sea  to  Jordan.     In  reality,  however,  it  is  not 

one,  but  several  plains,  more  or  less  divided  by 

The  three 

sections  of     the  remains  of  ridges,  which  once  upon  a  time 

the  plain.  .  .  .       .  r  ^    1       1        1 

sustamed  across  it  the  continuity  ot  the  back- 
bone of  Palestine.'  Thus,  nine  miles  from  the  sea,  near 
Tell  el  Kasis,!  the  traditional  site  of  the  slaughter  of  the 
priests  of  Baal,  a  promontory  of  the  Galilean  hills  shoots 
south  to  within  a  hundred  yards  of  Carmel,  leaving  only 
that  space  for  the  Kishon  to  break  through.  Eight  or 
nine  miles  farther  east,  at  Lejjun,  probably  the  ancient 
Megiddo,  low  ridges  run  out  from  both  north  and  south,  as 
if  they  had  once  met,  and  again  leave  Kishon  but  a  narrow 
pass.  And  once  more,  between  Jezreel  and  a  spot  west  of 
Shunem,  about  twenty-four  miles  from  the  coast,  there  is 
a  sudden  fall  of  level  eastwards,  which  visibly  separates 
Esdraelon  proper  from  the  narrower  valley  sloping  towards 
Jordan  and  is  perhaps  evidence  of  a  former  connection 
between  Gilboa  and  Moreh.  It  should  be  added,  that  to 
north  and  south  of  the  plain  the  geological  formation  is 
the  same. 

If  we  overlook  the  rising  ground  at  Lejjun,  which  is 
not  very  prominent,  we  thus  get,  upon  this  great  opening 
Plain  of  Acre,  across  Palestine,  three  divisions — to  the  west 
Descent  to'"'  ^^c  Maritime  Plain  of  Acre,  bounded  by  the 
jor  an.  j^^^  \{^s  near  Tell  el  Kasis  ;   in  the  centre  a 

large  inland  plain  ;  and  upon  the  east,  running  down  from 
it  from  Jordan,  the  long  valley  between  Gilboa  and  Moreh. 
Of  these  the  Central  Plain  lies  as  much  athwart,  as  on  a 

^  i.  e.  the  Mound  of  the  Priest. 


Esdraelon  381 


line  with,  the  other  two,  spreading  to  north  and  south  with 
a  breadth  equal  to  its  length.  In  shape  the  Central  Plain 
is  a  triangle.  The  southern  side  or  base  is  twenty  miles 
from  Tell  el  Kasis  by  the  foot  of  Carmel  and  the  lower 
Samarian  hills  south  to  Jenin.  The  other  two  sides  are 
equal,  fifteen  miles  each  ;  the  northern  being  the  base  of 
the  Nazareth  hills  from  Tell  el  Kasis  to  the  angle  between 
them  and  Tabor,  the  eastern  a  line  from  Tabor  to  Jenin. 
This  side  is  not  so  bounded  by  hills  as  the  other  two,  but 
has  three  breaks  across  it  eastward — one  between  Tabor 
and  Moreh,  a  mere  bay  of  the  plain,  with  a  narrow  wady 
down  to  the  Jordan  ;  one  between  Moreh  and  Gilboa,  the 
long  valley  aforesaid  running  to  the  Jordan  at  Bethshan  ; 
and  one  betw^een  Gilboa  and  the  hills  about  Jenin,  also  a 
bay  of  the  plain,  but  without  issue  to  Jordan.  The  general 
level  of  the  Central  Plain  is  200  feet  above  the  sea-line, 
but  from  this  the  valley  Jordanwards  sinks  gently  in 
twelve  miles  to  400  feet  below  the  sea,  at  Bethshan,  where 
it  drops  over  a  high  bank  on  to  the  Jordan  Plain. 

This  disposition  of  the  land,  with  all  that  it  has  meant 
in  history,  is  best  seen  from  Jezreel. 

As  you  stand  upon  that  last  headland  of  Gilboa,  200  feet 
above  the  plain,  your  eye  sweeps  from  the  foot  of  Tabor 
to  Jenin,  from  Tell  el  Kasis  to  Bethshan.  The  yj^^^  ^^^^ 
great  triangle  is  spread  before  you.  Along  the  J^^''^^^- 
north  of  it  the  steep  brown  wall  of  the  Galilean  hills, 
about  1000  feet  high,  runs  almost  due  west,  till  it  breaks 
out  and  down  to  the  feet  of  Carmel,  in  forest  slopes  just 
high  enough  to  hide  the  Plain  of  Acre  and  the  sea.  But 
over  and  past  these  slopes  Carmel's  steady  ridge,  deepening 
in  blue  the  while,  carries  the  eye  out  to  its  dark  promontory 
above  the  Mediterranean.     From  this  end  of  Carmel  the 


382    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

lower  Samarian  hills/  green  with  bush  and  dotted  by 
white  villages,  run  south-east  to  the  main  Samarian  range, 
and  on  their  edge,  due  south,  seven  miles  across  the  bay, 
Jenin  stands  out  with  its  minarets  and  palms,  and  the 
glen  breaking  up  behind  it  to  Dothan.  The  corresponding 
bay  on  the  north  between  Moreh  and  Tabor,  and  Tabor 
itself,  are  hidden.  But  all  the  rest  of  the  plain  is  before 
you — a  great  expanse  of  loam,  red  and  black,^  which  in 
a  more  peaceful  land  would  be  one  sea  of  waving  wheat 
with  island  villages  ;  but  here  is  what  its  modern  name 
implies,^  a  free,  wild  prairie,  upon  which  but  one  or  two 
hamlets  have  ventured  forth  from  the  cover  of  the  hills 
and  a  timid  and  tardy  cultivation  is  only  now  seeking  to 
overtake  the  waste  of  coarse  grass  and  the  thistly  herbs 
that  camels  love.  There  is  no  water  visible.  The  Kishon 
itself  flows  in  a  muddy  trench,  unseen  five  yards  away. 
But  here  and  there  a  clump  of  trees  shows  where  a  deep 
well  is  worked  to  keep  a  little  orchard  green  through 
summer ;  dark  patches  of  reeds  betray  the  beds  of  winter 
swamps ;  and  the  roads  have  no  limit  to  their  breadth, 
but  sprawl,  as  if  at  most  seasons  one  caravan  could  not 
follow  for  mud  on  the  path  of  another.  But  these  details 
sink  in  a  great  sense  of  space,  and  of  a  level  made 
almost  absolute  by  the  rise  of  hills  on  every  side  of  it.  It 
is  a  vast  inland  basin,  and  from  it  there  breaks  just  at 
your  feet,  between  Jezreel  and  Shunem,  the  valley  Jordan- 
wards, — breaks  as  visibly  as  river  from  lake,  with  a  slope, 

^  Which  we  have  already  identified  as  the  Shephelah  of  Israel.     See  p.  338. 

^  '  Loose  soil,  mostly  volcanic,  which  is  very  tiring  to  horses,  and  there- 
fore unfitted  for  cavalry  evolutions,  and  in  winter  boggy.' — P.E.F.  Mem. 
ii.  36. 

*  Merj  ibn  Amir.  'The  meadow  of  the  son  of  Amir,'  but  meadow  of  a 
wild,  rough  kind. 


Esdi'aelon  383 

and  almost  the  look  of  a  current  upon  it.  Away  down 
this,  between  Gilboa  and  Moreh,  Bethshan  shines  like  a 
white  island  in  the  mouth  of  an  estuary,  and,  across  the 
unseen  depth  of  Jordan,  rises  the  steep  flat  range  of  Gilead 
— a  counterpart  at  this  end  of  the  view  to  the  long  ridge 
of  Carmel  at  the  other.^ 

From   Jezreel   you    can    appreciate   everything   in    the 
literature  and  in  the  history  of  Esdraelon. 

I.  To  begin  with,  you  can  enjoy  that  happiest  sketch  of 
a    landscape  and    its    history  that  was   ever    j  ^j^^  Biessincr 
drawn   in   half  a  dozen   lines,  Issachar^ — to      ofissachar. 
which  the  most  of  Esdraelon  fell — 

Issachdr  is  a  large-limbed  ass, 
StrctcJnng  Jiimself  between  tJie  sheep/olds  : 
For  he  saw  a  resting-place  that  it  was  good. 
And  the  land  that  it  was pleasatitr 

Such  exactly  is  Esdraelon — a  land  relaxed  and  sprawling 
up  among  the  hills  to  north,  south  and  east,  as  you  will 
see  a  loosened  ass  roll  and  stretch  his  limbs  any  day  in  the 
sunshine  in  a  Syrian  village  yard.  To  the  highlander 
looking  down  upon  it,  Esdraelon  is  room  to  stretch  in  and 
lie  happy.  Yet  the  figure  of  the  ass  goes  further — the 
room  must  be  paid  for — 

So  he  bowed  his  shoulder  to  bear 

And  became  a  servaftt  under  task-work. 

The  inheritors  of  this  plain  never  enjoyed  the  highland 
independence  of   Manasseh   or   Naphtali.     Open  to  east 

^  This  '  antiphon  '  of  Gilead  and  Carmel,  in  the  view  from  Jezreel,  further 
illustrates  the  remark  made  on  p.  33S. 
'-'  Gen.  xlix.  14. 


384   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  west,  pleasantest  stage  on  the  highway  from  the 
Nile  to  the  Euphrates,  Esdraelon  was  at  distant  intervals 
the  war-path  or  battle-field  of  great  empires,  but  more 
regularly  the  prey  and  pasture  of  the  Arabs,  who  with 
each  spring  came  upon  it  over  Jordan.  Even  when  there 
has  been  no  invasion  to  fear,  Esdraelon  has  still  suffered  : 
when  she  has  not  been  the  camp  of  the  foreigner  she  has 
served  as  the  estate  of  her  neighbours.  Ten  years  ago 
the  peasants  got  rid  of  the  Arabs  of  the  desert,  only  to  be 
bought  up  by  Greek  capitalists  from  Beyrout. 

II.  Another  thing  you   see   most   clearly   from   Jezreel 

is  the  reason  of  the  names  given  to  the  Great  Plain  and 

II  The  two    ^^^  offshoots.     Thcse  names  are  two  :  Vale,  or 

names.  Deepening,  and  Plain  or  Opening  ;  the  former 
is  connected  with  the  name  of  Jezreel,  the  latter  with  that 
of  Megiddo. 

(i)  The  Vale  of  Jezreel.  The  word  for  Vale,  'Emeq, 
literally  deepening,  is  a  highlander's  word  for  a  valley  as 
(i)  The  Vale  ^^  looks  dow7i  into  it,  and  is  never  applied  to 
of  Jezreel.  ^j^y  extensive  plain  away  from  hills,  but  always 
to  wide  avenues  running  up  into  a  mountainous  country 
like  the  Vale  of  Elah,  the  Vale  of  Hebron,  and  the  Vale  of 
Ajalon.i  We  should,  therefore,  expect  the  word,  when 
associated  with  Jezreel,  to  apply  not  to  the  great  Central 
Plain  west  of  Jezreel,  but  to  the  broad  deep  vale  east 
of  Jezreel,  which  descends  to  Jordan,  between  Moreh  and 
Gilboa.  And  in  fact  it  is  so  applied  in  the  story  of 
Gideon's  campaign.  There  it  is  said  that  the  Midianites 
when  they  passed  over  Jordan  pitched  in  the  Vale  of 
Jezreel'^  to  the  fiorth  of  the  well  of  Harod  from  the  lull  of 

^  See  Appendix,  I.  -  Judges  vi.  33. 


Esdraelon  385 

Moreh  into  the  vale  ;^  and  again  that  the  camp  of  Midian 
was  in  the  valley  be7ieatJi  Gideon,  who  presumably  occu- 
pied, like  Saul,  the  heights  of  Gilboa  above  the  wells. 
The  same  identification  suits  the  other  passages  where 
the  Vale  of  Jczreel  is  mentioned,-  and  we  conclude  that 
in  the  Old  Testament  it  means  only  the  valley  down 
which  Jezreel  looks  to  Jordan,  and  not  the  plain  across 
which  Jezreel  looks  to  Carmel.^  But  in  later  times 
it  is  this  latter  which  is  called  after  Jezreel — not  in- 
deed now  the  Vale  of  Jezreel,  but  the  Great  Plain 
of  Esdrclo?ii,  or  Esdrclon^  This  name  has  survived 
to  the  present  day,  not  in  the  local  dialect,  but  in 
various  Greek  and  Latin  forms,  as  Stradela,^  or  Istradela,^ 
Esdraelon. 

(2)  The  Plain  of  Megiddo.  While  'Emeq  means  deepen- 
ing, the  word  used  here,  Biq'ah,  means  opening.  From  its 
origin — a  verb  to  split — one  would  naturally  ,^.  r^^^  pj^i^ 
take  it  to  be  a  valley  more  narrow  than  'Emeq,  of  Megiddo. 
a  cleft  or  gorge.  But  it  is  applied  to  broad  vales  like 
that  of  Jordan  under  Hermon  or  at  Jericho,  though  never 
to  table-lands  nor  to  maritime  plains  like  Sharon.  The 
Arabic  equivalent  is  to-day  the  name  of  the  vale  between 
the  Lebanons,  as  well  as  of  some  other  level  tracts  in 
Syria  surrounded  by  hills.  A  surrounding  of  hills  seems 
necessary  to  the  name  Biq'ah,  as  if  it  were  to  be  trans- 
lated, land  laid  open,  or  lying  open,  in  the  midst  of  hills. 
And  this  is  just  what  the  great  Central  Plain  of  Esdraelon 

^  Judges  vii.  i ;  cf.  12.  -  Joshua  xvii.  16;  Ilosea  i.  5. 

^  So  correctly  the  P.E.F.  map,  ed.  1S90, 

■*  Book  of  Judith  i.  8,  rb  (xlyd  ireSiov  'EaSprjXdifx  ;  cf.  iii.  9,  iv.  6, 
'EadprjXwv,  but  again  with  /u  in  vii.  3.  ^  The  Jerusalem  Itinerary. 

^  Bordeaux  Pilgrim,  333  A.D.  ;  another  MS.,  Stradeia,  ed.  P.P.T.,  17. 
In  Fetellus  (1130)  Jezrahel. 

2  B 


2,86   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

is, — girt  by  hills  on  all  sides,  laid  open  or  gaping  in  the 
midst  of  the  main  range  of  Palestine.^ 

The  name  of  Megiddo  has  not  survived,  like  that  of 
Jezreel,  and  there  is  controversy  as  to  what  site  it  repre- 
where  was  sents.  On  the  base  of  the  Central  Plain  just 
Megiddo?  opposite  Jezreel  is  a  place  called  Lejjun — the 
Roman  Legio,  Legion.  As  Jezreel  commands  the  mouth 
of  the  valley  towards  the  Jordan,  so  Legio  guards  the 
mouth  of  the  chief  pass  towards  Sharon.  It  was,  there- 
fore, as  important  a  site  as  Jezreel,  and  as  likely  to  give  its 
name  to  the  plain.  In  Roman  times  it  did  so.  Jerome 
calls  the  Great  Plain  both  the  Plains  of  Megiddo  and  the 
Campus  Legionis.^  Moreover,  the  only  town  definitely 
named  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Megiddo — 
Taanach  upon  the  waters  of  Megiddo"^ — is  undoubtedly 
the  present  Tannuk,  four  miles  from  Lejjun  ;  *  and  there 
even  seems  a  trace  of  the  name  in  the  name  the  Arabs 
give  to  Kishon,  the  Muqutta'.  Omitting  this  last  item, 
we  have  enough  of  evidence  to  support  Robinson's  identi- 
fication of  Lejjun  with  Megiddo,  even  against  a  plausible 
rival  which  Major  Conder  has  favoured  in  Mujedda',  a 
site  with  considerable  ruins  at  the  foot  of  Gilboa,  above 
the  Jordan  and  near  Beisan.^     I  have  put  in  a  note  what 

^  See  Appendix  I. 

^  Plains  of  Megiddo,  in  his  Pilgrimage  of  St.  Paula,  iv.  ;  Campus  Legionis, 
in  the  Ottomasticoii,  where  Eusebius,  whom  he  translates,  has  ry  /xeyaKu) 
TreSiw  TTJs  Aeyetbvos,  etc.,  artt.  'kpfirfKd,  BaidaKdd,  TajSaduv,  etc. 

*  Judges  V.  19. 

^  How  names  change  !  Legio  is  the  Crusading  Legio,  Ligio  and  Lyon. 
In  a  Bull  of  Alexander  iv.  (of  30th  Jan.  1255),  containing  an  inventory  of 
the  possessions  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Mary  in  the  Vale  of  Jehoshaphat,  we 
find  '  the  Church  of  Ligio  with  parish  and  tithes,'  as  well  as  'the  Manor  of 
Thanis, '  i.e.  Taanuk. 

*  Mujedda',  both  town  and  wady,  are  mentioned  hy  Burckhardt,  Travels 
in  Syria,  etc.,  July  2,  18 13. 


Esdraclon  387 

seem  to  mc  sufficient  answers  to  Major  Condcr's  argu- 
ment against  Lejjun,  and  need  here  only  emphasise  once 
more  what  is  so  evident  as  you  stand  at  Jezreel — the  equal 
right  with  Jezreel  which  Lejjun,  commanding  the  other 
great  gate  to  the  plain,  has  to  bestow  its  name  upon  the 
latter,  as  well  as  the  fitness  of  calling  that  great  triangle, 
opened  among  the  hills,  the  Biq'ah,  or  Open-Ground  of 
Megiddo.i 

^  Major  Conder's  argument  against  Lejjun,  and  in  favour  of  Mujedda', 
as  the  site  of  Megiddo,  is  threefold.  He  says  (i)  that  Megiddo  is  as  often 
mentioned — save  once — with  Bethshan  as  with  Taanach  ;  (2)  that  Muqutta' 
is  not  a  possible  transformation  of  Megiddo  ;  and  (3)  that  the  site  on  the 
Jordan  Valley  suits  the  narrative  of  the  flight  of  Ahaziah  (2  Kings  ix.) 
better  than  the  site  by  Lejjun  does.  On  each  of  these  points  I  think  he 
fails  to  make  out  his  case.  Thus  :  (i)  The  phrase,  Taanach  by  the  waters 
of  Megiddo,  seems  to  me  to  put  the  Mujedda'  site  out  of  the  question ; 
Joshua  xii.  21  sets  Taanach  and  Megiddo  next  to  Carmel  and  the  coast  (Dor, 
i.e.  the  present  Tanturah)  ;  no  possible  definition  of  locality  can  be  taken 
from  the  order  of  towns  in  Josh.  xvii.  11,  where  the  text  is  manifestly  cor- 
rupt, nor  from  that  in  Judges  i.  27,  which,  beginning  w^ith  Bethshan,  leaps 
over  Gilboa  to  Taanach,  then  over  Carmel  to  Dor,  in  the  west,  then  back 
to  Ibleam  (possibly  the  present  Bir  PSela'meh,  near  Jenin ;  cf.  Black's 
Joshua,  '  Sm.  Camb.  Bible  for  Schools,'  xvii.  11)  and  Megiddo.  In  i  Kings 
iv.  12  there  is  another  confusion  :  Taanach,  Megiddo,  Bethshan,  Abel- 
meholah,  then  back  to  Jokneam  on  Carmel.  In  i  Chron.  vii.  29  the  order  is 
Bethshan,  Taanach,  Megiddo,  Dor,  the  correct  order  from  east  to  west,  if 
Lejjun  be  Megiddo.  (2)  Major  Conder  objects  to  the  identification  of 
Muqutta'  with  Megiddo,  that  the  palatal  t  in  the  Arab  name  is  never  the 
equivalent  of  the  Hebrew  d.  Yet,  in  some  cases,  they  have  been  inter- 
changed (Wright's  Comparative  Grammar,  p.  53).  Tlie  deep  q  and  the 
hard  g  are  of  course  equivalents.  There  remains  the  'am  at  the  end  of 
Muqutta'  which  is  not  in  Megiddo,  but  this  '■ain  is  in  Mujedda'  as  well,  as 
to  which  Conder  says  that  it  is  an  equivalent  of  the  Hebrew  n  in  the  form 
Megiddon.  But  it  is  not  necessary  to  prove  an  equivalence  between  the 
modern  and  ancient  words.  Muqutta'  means  ford,  and  it  is  not  impossible 
that  Arabs  should,  in  the  case  of  a  river,  substitute  it  for  a  name  so  very 
closely  resembling  it  in  sound,  of  which  they  did  not  know  the  meaning. 
This  has  happened  frequently  in  Palestine  itself  and  elsewhere.  (3)  With 
all  deference  to  Major  Conder,  I  think  that  Megiddo  at  Lejjun  suits  the 
story  of  the  flight  of  Ahaziah  far  better  than  Mujedda'  does.  Let  it  be 
remembered  that  Jehu  was  driving  up  the  Valley  of  Jezreel  from  Bethshan, 


2,S8   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

III.  Now  when  we  have  made  out  Lejjun  or  Megiddo 
as  a  place  of  equal  importance  with  Jezreel — each  of  them 
III.  Esdraeion  giving  its  name  to  the  plain,  as  well  as  holding 
and  Sharon.  ^  chief  gateway  into  it — we  are  ready  to  mark 
the  next  fact  about  Esdraeion  which  the  view  from  Jezreel 
towards  Megiddo  renders  clear.  This  is,  that  the  passage 
which  Esdraeion  afforded  across  Palestine  was  not  that 
which  seems  at  first  the  more  natural,  viz.,  from  the  Plain 
of  Acre  by  the  glen  through  which  Kishon  breaks  at  Tell 
el  Kasis,  but  that  which  comes  over  from  the  Plain  of 
Sharon  by  the  pass  at  Megiddo.  Look  from  Jezreel,  and 
at  once  you  see  this  to  be  possible.  The  Plain  of  Acre  is 
not  more  visible  to  you  than  the  Plain  of  Sharon  ;  the 
Galilean  hills  intervene,  and  rise  almost  as  high  and  broad 
between  Esdraeion  and  Acre  as  the  Samarian  hills  do 


and  that  Ahaziah's  flight  from  him  was,  therefore,  not  so  likely  to  be  towards 
Bethshan  as  in  an  opposite  direction.  We  do  not  know  where  the  ascent 
of  Gur  was ;  Ibleam  may  be  beside  Jenin.  Overtaken  and  wounded  here, 
on  a  path  southward  which  Jehu  afterwards  pursued  to  Samaria,  it  was 
natural  for  Ahaziah's  company  to  seek  the  only  other  route  for  chariots 
from  the  plain  southwards — that  by  the  pass  leading  over  from  Lejjun  to 
Sharon,  These  objections  against  Robinson's  argument  being  repelled,  I 
think  the  case  for  Lejjun  as  Megiddo  rests  satisfactorily  on  these  points  : 
(l)  that  it  is  close  to  Taanach  ;  (2)  that  the  waters  of  Megiddo  are 
practically  Kishon  (Judges  v.  19) ;  (3)  that  Lejjun  is  as  likely  to  give 
its  name  to  the  plain  as  Jezreel  is,  and  did  so  give  it  in  the  time  of 
Jerome. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  published  in  the  Expositor,  I  have  read  Mr. 
Trelawney  Saunders'  reasons  against  Conder's  theory  {P.E.F.Q.,  18S0, 
223-224),  and  find  that  he  also  suggests  the  possibility  of  the  derivation  of 
Muqutta'  from  Megiddo.  With  Saunders  agrees  Socin  [Z.D.P.  V.  iv., 
150,  151).  Under  the  former's  note  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henderson  cites  one 
strong  argument  for  Mujedda',  that  in  the  Travels  of  the  Alo/tar  Megiddo  is 
presumably  close  to  Jordan.  But  this  cannot  stand  against  the  mass  of  evi- 
dence which  puts  it  near  Taanach,  and  according  to  W.  Max  Muller,  Asieii 
ti.  Eitropa,  p.  195  f.,  the  writer  has  confused  Kishon  with  Jordan.  MuUcr 
also  points  out  how  often  Megiddo  is  spelt  with  a  '  t '  on  the  Egyptian 
monuments.     See  Additional  Note  at  end  of  volume, 


Esdraelon  389 

between  Esdraelon  and  Ca^sarea.  Look  at  the  way  Carmel 
lies.  You  easily  perceive  that  an  army  coming  north  by 
Sharon,  whether  it  was  making  for  the  south  of  the  Lake 
of  Galilee  at  Bethshan,  or  for  the  north  of  the  lake  by  the 
plateau  above  Tiberias,  would  not  seek  to  compass  the 
prolonged  ridge  of  Carmel  by  the  sea,  and  so  enter 
Esdraelon  from  the  Plain  of  Acre,  for  that  would  be  a 
very  roundabout  road  ;  but  it  would  cut  across  the  Sama- 
rian  hills  to  the  south  of  Carmel  by  the  easy  pass  which 
issues  at  Megiddo.  And  so,  in  fact,  armies  from  the  south 
always  came :  the  Philistines,  when  they  shirked  attacking 
Israel  on  the  steep  flanks  of  Benjamin  and  Ephraim,  and 
camped  by  the  most  open  gateway  of  the  hill-country 
opposite  Esdraelon  ;  ^  Pharaoh  Necho,  when  Josiah  met 
him  at  Megiddo,  and  was  beaten  whett  he  met  kim,  dind  was 
slain,  and  the  mourning  of  Hadadrinimon  in  the  Plain  of 
Megiddo  became  a  proverb  in  Israel ;  -  the  Romans,  who 
set  a  great  garrison  in  Megiddo,  and  called  it  Legion  ; 
Napoleon,  in  1799,  who,  although  he  was  making  for  Acre, 
did  not  take  the  sea-path  round  Carmel,  but  also  crossed 
into  Esdraelon  by  Subbarin  and  Tell  Keimun.  If  other 
proof  be  needed  that  in  ancient  times  Esdraelon's  connec- 
tion with  the  coast  was  south,  and  not  north,  of  Carmel, 
we  find  it  in  that  singular  list  of  towns  so  frequently  given 
in  the  Old  Testament — Bethshan,  Taanach,  Megiddo, 
Dor.  These  formed  a  strategical  line  of  fortresses  on  the 
one  great  avenue  across  country,^  yet  that  line  did  not 
run  north,  but  south  of  Carmel.     Megiddo  and  Taanach, 

^  at  o.va.^6.(ju%  r^s  bpavr\%  .  .  .  i]  ei'sooos  eis  rrjv  'louoaiav.  Judith  iv.  6.  See 
above,  p.  356. 

-  2  Chron.  xxxv.  22  ;  Zech.  xii.  11.  Hadadiimmon  (LXX.  powv,  a  pome- 
granate plantation)  is  perhaps  Rummaneh,  close  beside  Lejjun. 

^  Josh.  xvii.  II  ;  Judges  i.  27  ;  i  Kings  iv.  12  ;  i  Chron.  vii.  29. 


390   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Lmid 

backed  by  Bethshan,  were  not  in  line  with  Acre  or  Haifa, 
but  with  Dor,  the  present  Tanturah,  a  few  miles  to  the 
north  of  Caesarea.  Nothing  could  be  clearer  than  this. 
The  break  across  Palestine  which  Esdraelon  affords  is  a 
break  into  Sharon,  and  not  into  the  Plain  of  Acre.  And, 
indeed,  the  roads  from  Acre  to  the  interior  of  the  country, 
whether  making  for  Jordan  above  or  below  the  lake, 
travelled  then,  as  they  do  now,  through  the  long  parallel 
valleys  of  Lower  Galilee.  If  any  caravans  entered  Esdrae- 
lon from  Acre,  it  was  in  order  to  seek  a  gateway  to  Samaria 
at  Jenin,  or  to  cross  to  Sharon  by  the  pass  of  Megiddo.^ 
Few  armies  going  north  or  south  kept  to  the  beach  below 
Carmel ;  if  those  of  the  Ptolemies  and  Antiochi  did  so,  it 
was  because  the  Jews  held  the  hills  up  to  Carmel  ;  if 
Richard,  in  the  Third  Crusade,  did  so,^  it  was  because 
those  hills  were  all  in  the  possession  of  the  Saracen. 

IV.  We  have  followed  the  natural  avenues  to  Esdraelon 

from  the  rest  of  the  land.     Let  us  now  review  the  points 

at  which  they  enter  the  Great  Plain  ;  for  it  is 

IV.  The  Gate-  ^  .  . 

ways  of  from  tlicse,   of  course,  that    its   various   cam- 

paigns were  directed.  The  entrances  are  five 
in  number,  and  all  visible  from  Jezreel.  Three  are  at  the 
corners  of  the  triangle — the  pass  of  the  Kishon  at  Tell  el 
Kasis,  the  glen  between  Tabor  and  the  Nazareth  hills,  and 
the  valley  southward  behind  Jenin.     The  first  of  these  is 

^  We  have  an  incidental  proof  that  travellers  preferred  this  road  ;  in  3S2, 
St.  Paula,  travelling  from  Ptolemais  to  Caesarea,  did  not  keep  to  the  sea,  but 
crossed  the  plains  of  Megiddo  by  the  deathplace  of  Josiah.  Jerome's  Life  of 
St.  Paula,  iv. 

"  Vinsauf,  Itiner.  Ricard.  iv.  12-14.  Cestius  also  took  the  sea  road, 
Josephus,  ii.  Wars,  xviii.  So  did  Napoleon  in  his  retreat,  Guerre  de 
r Orient ;  Campagnes  d'Egypte  et  de  Syrie,  ii.  104.  The  new  railway  from 
the  coast  to  Jordan  keeps,  of  course,  to  the  north  of  Carmel. 


Hsdraelon  39 1 

the  way  of  advance  from  the  Plain  of  Acre  ;  ^  Harosheth 
of  the  Gentiles,  from  which  Sisera  advanced,  lies  upon  it. 
The  second  is  the  road  down  from  the  plateau  above 
Tiberias,  and  Northern  Galilee  generally  ;  it  is  commanded 
by  Tabor,  on  which  there  was  always  a  fortress.  The  third  is 
the  passage  towards  that  series  of  meadows  which  lead  up 
from  Esdraelon  into  the  heart  of  Samaria — the  Anabaseis 
of  the  Hill-country."  The  other  two  gateways  to  the  Great 
Plain  were,  of  course,  Megiddo  and  Jezreel.  Megiddo 
guarded  the  natural  approach  of  Philistines,  Egyptians, 
and  other  enemies  from  the  south ;  Jezreel  that  of  Arabs, 
Midianites,  Syrians  of  Damascus,  and  other  enemies  from 
the  east. 

V.  With  our  eyes  on  these  five  entrances,  and  remem- 
bering that  they  are  not  merely  glens  into  neighbouring 
provinces,  but  passes  to  the  sea  and  to  the 

V.  The  His- 

desert — gates  on  the  great  road  between  the   tory  of 

-   ,^       ,  1     xT-i        1  1         Esdraelon. 

empires  of  Euphrates  and  JNile,  between  the 
continents  of  Asia  and  Africa — we  are  ready  for  the  arrival 
of  those  armies  of  all  nations  whose  almost  ceaseless  con- 
tests have  rendered  this  plain  the  classic  battle-ground  of 
Scripture.  Was  ever  arena  so  simple,  so  regulated  for  the 
spectacle  of  war  ?  Esdraelon  is  a  vast  theatre,  with  its 
clearly-defined  stage,  with  its  proper  exits  and  entrances. 
We  will  still  watch  it  from  Jezreel. 

(i)  Very  significantly,  the  first  of  the  historical  battles 
of  Esdraelon  was  one  in  which  Israel  overcame  not  only  a 
foreign  tyrant,  but  the  use  which  that  tyrant  made  of  the 

^  Though  from  Acre  itself  a  more  usual  road  lay  farther  north  across  the . 
slopes  of  the  Galilean  hills. 
-  See  above,  pp.  356,  389. 


392    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

plain  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  Israel's  unity.  On  the 
eve  of  Deborah's  appearance  in  Israel,  Esdraelon,  which 
(i)  Barak  and  ^^^  ho-Qxi  assigned  to  Issachar,  was  still  in 
Sisera.  possessioH  of  the  Canaanites,  and  scoured  by 

their  chariots.^  This  meant  not  only  that  the  entrances  to 
the  hill-country  of  Israel  were  in  Canaanite  hands,  but 
that  the  northern  tribes,  Zebulun  and  Naphtali,  were  wholly 
cut  off  from  the  southern,  Manasseh,  Ephraim,  Benjamin, 
and  the  still  ineffective  Judah.^  The  Canaanite  camp  was 
at  Harosheth,  probably  the  present  Harithiyeh,  on  the 
Kishon  pass,  where  it  must  have  paralysed  the  maritime 
tribes  of  Asher  and  Dan.^  The  evil,  therefore,  was  far 
greater  than  the  oppression  of  Issachar ;  it  affected  the 
national  existence  of  Israel,  and  its  removal  was  the 
concern  of  all  her  tribes.  This  is  emphasised  by  both  of 
the  two  accounts  of  the  revolt.  The  Song  of  Deborah, 
without  doubt  a  contemporary  document,  mentions  every 
tribe  for  praise  or  blame,  according  as  it  took  part  or  did 
not,  except  the  tribe  of  Judah.*  The  prose  account,  which 
precedes  the  song,^  names  only  th^  northern  tribes,  but 
describes  the  leaders  as  belonging  to  both  ends  of  Israel — 
Deborah  to  Mount  Ephraim,  near  Bethel,  and  Barak  to 
Kedesh-Naphtali.^     With  regard  to  the  battle  itself,  the 

^  Both  Oort  {Atlas,  iv. )  and  Guthe  (in  Droysen's  Hist.  Hand  Atlas)  mark 
a  band  of  Israelite  territory  across  Esdraelon,  so  as  to  include  Jezreel.  But 
this  is  very  improbable,  for  it  shuts  up  the  Canaanites,  who  were  all-powerful 
on  the  plain,  in  a  little  enclosure  about  Bethshan — a  blockade  which  could 
not  have  been  maintained  by  the  oppressed  and  weakened  Israel.  Cf.  Budde, 
Ri.  u.  Sa.  46. 

^  Judah  is  not  mentioned  in  Deborah's  Song,  nor,  of  course,  Levi. 

^  See  p.  174.     They  abode  by  their  ships. 

*  Machir  stands  for  Manasseh,  Gilead  for  Gad.  *  Judges  iv. 

^  When  we  have  grasped  the  national  significance  of  the  crisis,  we  do  not 
feel  the  force  of  the  objections  brought  against  the  distance  which  chapter  iv. 
puts  between  Deborah's  and  Barak's  homes  (see  Budde,  Ri.  u.  Sa.  p.  105 


Esdraelon  393 

two  accounts  agree  as  to  the  chief  actors,  the  help  given 
to  Israel  by  Jehovah,^  the  battle-field  upon  Kishon,  the 
total  defeat  of  the  Canaanites,  and  the  murder  of  Sisera 
by  Jael.  In  addition,  the  prose  narrative  introduces  Jabin, 
king  of  Canaan,  at  Hazor,^  names  Harosheth  as  Siscra's 
camp,  and  Tabor  as  the  tryst  of  the  Israelites,  and  gives  a 
different  account  of  the  way  in  which  Jael  struck  her  fell 
blow.^  With  the  first  and  the  last  of  these  we  have 
nothing  to  do  here.  The  addition  of  Harosheth  and 
Tabor  is  in  harmony  with  the  geographical  data,  and  it 
was  natural  to  introduce  them  in  a  prose  narrative,  where 
more  attention  would  be  paid  than  in  the  song  to  tactical 
details.  Accepting,  then,  all  the  geographical  contributions 
of  chapter  iv.  in  supplement  to  the  rapid  sketch  of  the 

Cooke,  The  Song  and  Hist,  oj  Deborah,  p.  n  ;  Wellhausen,  P>ol€g.,Y.r\^.  ed., 
241).  There  was  no  reason  for  inventing  it,  and  it  is  natural  in  the  circum- 
stances. Chapter  v.  implies  that  all  the  tribes  which  lay  on  the  Central 
Range  were  roused,  and  certainly  does  not  indicate,  as  some  have  alleged 
ver.  15  indicates,  that  both  Deborah  and  Barak  belonged  to  Issachar.  On 
chapter  iv.  see  A.  B.  Davidson,  Expositor,  January  1889. 

1  Wellhausen's  contrast  between  the  two  chapters  on  this  point  is  manifestly 
overdrawn.     Proleg.,  Eng.  ed.,  241  f. 

"  The  song  speaks  o{  kittgs  of  Canaan  {y.  19).  Some  have  attributed  the 
insertion  of  Jabin's  name  to  an  editor  (Bertheau,  Richter,  2nd  ed.  ;  Dillmann 
on  Josh.  xi.  i);  but  others,  following  Kuenen  (Wellhausen,  Budde,  Cooke, 
Driver),  hold  that  the  chapter  is  woven  from  two  distinct  narratives — one  of 
Sisera's  defeat  by  Deborah  and  Barak  on  Kishon,  as  in  chapter  v.  ;  the  other 
of  a  battle  by  Zebulun  and  Naphtali  against  Jabin  on  the  northern  Jordan. 
This,  however,  is  far  from  proved  or  probable,  for  (i)  there  is  no  reason  why 
two  such  stories  should  have  got  mixed  (as  Budde  owns,  p.  62).  The  appear- 
ance of  a  Barak  in  both  has  been  suggested  as  a  reason,  but  a  double  Barak 
would  be  as  great  a  difficulty  as  a  double  Jabin  (here  and  in  Josh.  xi.).  (2) 
The  attempt  to  distinguish  the  two  narratives  (Bruston,  'Lesdeux  Jehovistes,' 
in  the  Rev.  de  Theol.  et  Phil.,  1S86)  has  failed.  (3)  Chapter  iv.  as  it  stands 
is  a  consistent  account.  On  the  alleged  discrepancy  between  vv.  16  and  22, 
see  below,  p.  396,  n.  i.  Even  if  the  Jabin  portion  were  detachable,  this 
would  not  affect  the  other  divergences  of  chapter  iv.  from  chapter  v.,  especially 
the  mention  of  Harithiyeh  and  Tabor. 

^  On  this  see  Cooke,  op.  cit.  ;  Robertson  Smith,  O.T.J.C. 


394   ^^^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

fighting  in  chapter  v.,  we  may  take  the  following  as  a 
full  account  of  the  battle. 

The  hands  of  the  prophetess  of  Mount  Ephraim  were 
required  to  loosen  the  spring  of  the  revolt,  but  the  spring 
The  Battle  of    i^self  was  found  among  the   northern  tribes : 
the  Kishon.      ^q  them  belonged  the  military  leader,  Barak, 
and  this  determined  the  place  of  muster  not  in  Gilboa 
where    Gideon    and     Saul,   southern    chiefs,    afterwards 
assembled  their  forces,  but  in  the  strong  corner  at  Tabor, 
where   the   main   road    enters   the   plain   from   Northern 
Galilee.     To  this,  in  the  loose  disposition  of  Oriental  war- 
fare— compare  Gideon's  and  Saul's  traverse  of  the  plain  by 
night  in  presence  of  the  enemy  ^ — it  would  be  easy  for  the 
southern   tribesmen   to   cross,    unless    indeed   we   are   to 
imagine,  and  it  is  not  unlikely,  that  the  Canaanites  were 
attacked  by  Israel  from  both  sides  of  the  plain.     It  is  not 
necessary  to  suppose  that  Barak  arranged  his  men  high 
up  Tabor  ;  though  Tabor,  an  immemorial  fortress,  was 
there  to  fall  back  upon  in  case  of  defeat.      The  head- 
quarters of  the  muster  were  probably  in  the  glen,  at  Tabor's 
foot,  in  the  village   Deburieh — perhaps  a  reminiscence  of 
Deborah  herself — which  also  in  Roman  times  was  occupied 
by   the   natives    of   Galilee    in    their    revolt    against    the 
foreigner  who   held    the  Plain.^       Here   in    the    northern 
angle  of  Esdraelon,  Barak  watched  till   the  lengthening 
line  of  his  enemy's  chariots  drew  out  from  the  western 
angle  at  Tell  el  Kasis  and  stretched  opposite  to  him,  with 
Taanach  and  Megiddo  behind  them.     They  may  even  have 
turned  north  towards  the  Hebrew  position.     Then  Barak 

^  Judges  vii.  and  i  Sam.  x.xix. 

"  Josephus  (ii.  Wars,  xxi.  3)  speaks  of  a  garrison  at  Dabaritta,  as  it  was 
called  in  his  day,  to  'keep  guard  on  the  Great  Plain.' 


Esdraelon  395 

gave  them  battle  in  a  fierce  highland  charge  :  into  the 
valley  his  thousands  rushed  at  his  feet.  It  has  been  sup- 
posed that  with  the  charge  a  storm  broke  from  the  north, 
for  there  was  fighting  from  heaven,  according  to  the  poem, 
and  Kishon  was  in  full  flood  : — 

Torrent  Kis/ioJi  swept  them  away, 
Torrent  of  spates,^  torrent  Kishofi  ! 

This  means  that  the  plain  must  already  have  been  in  a 
state  in  which  it  was  impossible  for  chariots  to  manoeuvre. 
As  another  great  feature  of  the  battle  the  poem  remem- 
bers the  plunging  of  horses  : — 

Then  did  the  horse-hoofs  stamp, 

By  reason  of  the  plungings,  the  plungings  of  their  strong  ones. 

The  highland  footmen  had  it  all  their  own  way.  Their 
charge  came  with  such  impetuosity  upon  a  labouring  and 
divided  foe,  that  the  latter — and  this,  too,  shows  how  far 
Canaan  had  advanced  across  the  plain — were  scattered 
both  east  and  west.  The  main  flight  turned  back  towards 
Harosheth,  and  the  slaughter  and  the  drowning  must  have 
been  great  in  the  narrow  pass.  But  Sisera  himself,  who 
doubtless  was  in  the  van  of  his  army  as  he  led  it  east, 
seems  to  have  fled  eastward  still,  for  according  to  the  prose 
narrative  the  tent  of  Heber  the  Kenite,  where  he  sought 
rest  and  found  death,  lay  by  the  terebinth  of  Betsa'anini  by 
Kedesh  on  the  plateau  above  the  Lake  of  Galilee.  It  is 
the  same  direction  as  the  French  military  maps  show  the 

^  An  obscure  expression.  The  word  is  plural.  The  LXX.  render  it  of 
ancient  times  or  deeds — inappropriate  in  a  song  which  celebrates  the  first  of 
these.  Others  take  it  oi  onsets,  i.e.  battles,  from  an  Arabic  application  of  the 
root.  But,  from  this  same,  it  is  possible  to  deduce  the  meaning  of  omiishings 
of  water,  sudden  foods  ot  spates,  and  this  is  the  most  natural.  See  Cooke, 
op.  cit.,  48. 


396   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

flight  of  the  Turks  to  have  taken  in  1799,  when  Kleber's 
small  squares,  reinforced  by  Napoleon,  broke  up  vastly 
superior  numbers  on  the  same  field  of  Sisera's  discomfiture.^ 
Barak's  was  a  strange  victory,  in  which  highlanders 
had  for  once  been  helped,  not  hindered,  by  level  ground. 
But  the  victory  won  that  day  by  the  Plain  over  the 
Canaanites  was  not  so  great  as  the  victory  won  by  Israel 
over  the  Plain.  Esdraelon  is  broad  and  open  enough  to 
have  been  a  frontier  between  two  nations ;  but  the  un- 
selfish tribes  had  overcome  this  difference  between  them. 
What  in  a  century  or  two  might  have  yawned  to  an 
impassable  gulf,  they  had  bridged  once  for  all  by  their 
loyalty  to  the  Ideal  of  a  united  people  and  a  united 
fatherland.     And  the  power  of  that  Ideal  was  faith  in  a 

^  The  above  identification  of  the  site  of  Kedesh  is  Major  Conder's  {T.  IV.). 
Cooke,  op.  cit.,  12  f.,  suggests  Kedesh  of  Issachar  (i  Chion.  vi.  72,  cf.  76  ; 
Joshua  xii.  22)  between  Taanach  and  Megiddo,  with  which  he  would  identify 
the  Kedesh  of  Barak,  counting  it  an  error  to  call  this  latter  Kedesh-Naphtali. 
But  Kedesh  of  Issachar  was  too  near  the  battle  and  too  much  under  the 
hills  of  Manasseh  for  Sisera  to  flee  there,  and  still  less  would  he  have  gone 
to  it,  if  it  had  been  Barak's  seat.  The  plain  of  Zaanaim,  Eng.  ver.,  is  in 
the  original  oak  or  terebinth  of  Besa'anaim  (D''3yV3  jvX,  Q'ri  D''3JyV2  evi- 
dently one  word  as  LXX.  take  it,  and  because  (i?N  is  in  the  genitive 
relation  to  "3),  mentioned  also  in  Josh.  xix.  33  as  Besa'ananim,  LXX. 
^eaei-uiv,  a  place  on  the  border  of  Naphtali.  This  is  an  additional  argu- 
ment against  identifying  Kedesh  with  K.  of  Issachar.  The  LXX.  l3e<Te,au!/ 
has  suggested  Kh.  Bessum  in  the  plateau  west  of  the  Lake,  the  name  Kedesh 
lies  east  below,  and  Damieh,  perhaps  the  Adami  of  Josh.  xix.  33,  close  by 
north-west.  Conder's  choice,  therefore,  is  well  supported.  The  only  other 
point  is  the  alleged  discrepancy  between  iv.  16,  where  Barak  pursues  the 
Canaanites  west  to  Harosheth,  and  22  where  he  pursued  Sisera  to  Kedesh, 
i.e.  east,  if  the  above  identification  be  correct.  Now  the  double  flight  of  the 
Canaanites,  west  and  east,  was  very  probable,  for  in  both  directions  lay 
Canaanite  towns.  If  so,  Barak  might  despatch  the  main  pursuit  west, 
while  he  himself  turned  east  after  Sisera.  To  read  the  narrative  as  if  it 
stated  that  Barak  undertook  in  person  both  pursuits,  is  to  treat  it  with 
a  rigour  which  would  force  inconsistencies  upon  any  succinct  historical 
narrative. 


Esdraelon 


397 


common  God.     Well  might  Deborah  open  her  song  with 

the  Hallelujah  : — 

For  that  the  leaders  took  the  lead  in  Israel, 
For  that  the  people  oj^e^-ed  themselves  willingly, 
Bless  ye  Jehovah. 

(2)  The  next  invaders,  whom  Israel  had  to  meet  upon 
Esdraelon,  were  Arabs  from  over  Jordan,  eastern 
Midianites.      This  time   therefore  they  drew    ,  >  o-, 

'  (2)  Cjideon 

to  battle  not  upon   Kishon  and  the  western    ^"^  Midian. 
watershed,  but  at  the  head  of  the  long  vale  running  down 
to  Bethshan  ;  and  as  Manasseh  was  now  the  heart  of  the 
defence,  the  muster  of  Israel  took  place  not  at  Tabor, 
but  at  Gilboa.     Gideon  and  all  the  people  that  were  with 
him  pitched  above   the   well  of  Harod,  and  the  camp  of 
Midian  was  to  the  north  of  hint  from  Moreh  into  the  Vale. 
That  is  to  say,  the  Midianites   took  up  practically  the 
same  position  about  Shunem  as  we  shall  see  the  Philis- 
tines  occupy   before   their   defeat   of  Saul.^     Due  south 
across  the  head  of  the  Vale  is  the  rugged  end  of  Gilboa — 
Jezreel  standing  off  it — and  on  this  Gideon,  like  Saul,  drew 
up  his  men.     The  only  wells  are  three,  all  lying  in  the 
Vale  :  one  by  Jezreel  itself,  one  out  upon  the  plain,  and 
one  close  under  the   steep  banks  of  Gilboa.      qj^^    . 
The  first  and  second  of  these  lie  open  to  the      tactics. 
position  of  the  Midianites,  and  tradition  has  rightly  fixed 
on  the  third  and  largest,  now  called  the  'Ain  Jalud,  as  the 
well  of  Harod. 2     It  bursts  some  fifteen  feet  broad  and  two 

^  It  is  doubtful  how  far  the  name  Moreh  extended  eastward,  but  if  the 
Beth-shittah  of  Judges  vii.  22  be  the  present  Shutta,  then  Moreh  must  be  to 
the  west  of  that,  and  is  probably,  as  put  above,  the  hill  above  Shunem,  now 
known  as  Jebel  Duhy. 

^  See  P.E.F.  Siirvcy\d>.xgQ.  map.  'Ain  el  Meiyiteh  is  under  Jezreel.  'Ain 
Tuba'un,  where  Saladin  camped  in  I1S7  (Tons  Tubania ; '  Will,  of  Tyre, 
xxii.  26),  is  on  the  plain.      The  name  'Ain  Jalud  is  interesting.      I3oha-ed- 


39S    The  Histo7'ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

deep  from  the  very  foot  of  Gilboa,  and  mainly  out  of  it, 
but  fed  also  by  the  other  two  springs,  flows  a  stream 
considerable  enough  to  work  six  or  seven  mills.  The  deep 
bed  and  soft  banks  of  this  stream  constitute  a  formidable 
ditch  in  front  of  the  position  on  Gilboa,  and  render  it 
possible  for  the  defenders  of  the  latter  to  hold  the  spring 
at  their  feet  in  face  of  an  enemy  on  the  plain  :  and  the 
spring  is  indispensable  to  them,  for  neither  to  the  left, 
right,  nor  rear  is  there  any  other  living  water.  Thus  the 
conditions  of  the  narrative  in  Judges  vii.  are  all  present, 
though  it  must  be  left  to  experts  to  say  whether  ten 
thousand  men  could  be  deployed  in  the  course  of  an 
evening  from  the  hill  behind  to  the  spring  and  the  stream 
that  flows  from  it.  Anybody,  however,  who  has  looked 
across  the  scene  can  appreciate  the  suitability  of  the  test 
which  Gideon  imposed  on  his  men.  The  stream,  which 
makes  it  possible  for  the  occupiers  of  the  hill  to  hold  also 
the  well  against  an  enemy  on  the  plain,  forbids  them  to  be 
careless  in  their  use  of  the  water  ;  for  they  drink  in  face 
of  that  enemy,  and  the  reeds  and  shrubs  which  mark  its 
course  afford  ample  cover  for  hostile  ambushes.  Those 
Israelites,  therefore,  who  boived  themselves  dozvn  on  their 

Din  (  Vit.  Salad,  ch.  xxiv. )  calls  it  'Ain  el  Jalut  or  well  of  Goliath,  with  whose 
slaughter  by  David  the  Jerusalem  Itinerary  connects  Jezreel  (Jertts.  Ithi. 
ed.  P.P.T.,  see  Stradela),  But  JaKit  and  the  association  with  Goliath 
may  both  be  due  to  a  mishearing  of  Jalud.  And  Jaliid  has  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  Gile'ad  of  v.  3  of  the  story.  It  does  not  contain  the 
letter  'ain,  which  the  latter  has,  but  we  have  many  cases  of  'ain  being 
replaced  by  a  long  vowel.  Major  Conder,  tempted  by  the  name,  has  sug- 
gested the  'Ain  el  Jem 'ain,  or  Well  of  the  Two  Troops,  at  the  foot  of 
Gilboa,  near  Bethshan,  as  the  well  of  Harod.  But,  in  a  pass  which  has  been 
the  scene  of  countless  bivouacs  and  forays,  it  is  futile  to  suppose  that  this 
name  may  refer  to  Gideon's  two  troops ;  while  if,  as  all  are  agreed,  Shutta 
represents  Beth-shittah,  we  must  suppose  the  Arab  position  and  Gideon's 
camp  to  the  south  of  it  to  lie  west  of  Shutta,  up  the  vale.  Gile'ad  may  be  a 
misreading  for  Gilboa. 


Esdraelon  399 

knees,  drinking  headlong,  did  not  appreciate  their  position 
or  the  foe  ;  whereas  those  who  merely  crouched,  lapping  up 
the  water  with  one  hand,  while  they  held  their  weapons  in 
the  other  and  kept  their  face  to  the  enemy,  were  aware  of 
their  danger,  and  had  hearts  ready  against  all  surprise. 
The  test  in  fact  was  a  test  of  attitude,  which,  after  all,  both 
in  physical  and  moral  warfare,  has  proved  of  greater 
value  than  strength  or  skill — attitude  towards  the  foe  and 
appreciation  of  his  presence.  In  this  case  it  was  parti- 
cularly suitable.  What  Gideon  had  in  view  was  a  night 
march  and  the  sudden  surprise  of  a  great  host — tactics 
that  might  be  spoiled  by  a  few  careless  men.  Soldiers 
who  behaved  at  the  water  as  did  the  three  hundred,  showed 
just  the  common-sense  and  vigilance  to  render  such 
tactics  successful.  First,  however,  Gideon  himself  ex- 
plored the  ground — two  miles  in  breadth  between  his 
men  and  the  Arab  tents  ;  and  heard,  holding  his  breath 
the  while,  the  talk  of  the  two  sentries,  which  revealed  to 
him  what  stuff  for  panic  Midian  was.  The  rest  is  easily 
told.  It  was  the  middle  watch — that  dead  of  the  night 
against  which  our  Lord  also  warned  His  disciples.^  The 
wary  men,  behind  a  leader  who  had  made  himself  familiar 
with  the  ground,  touched  without  alarm  the  Arab  lines. 
They  carried  lights,  as  Syrian  peasants  do  on  windy 
nights,^  in  earthen  pitchers,  and  they  had  horns  hung  upon 
them.^  They  blew  the  horns,  brake  the  pitchers,  flashed 
their  lights — that  to  the  startled  Arabs  must  have  seemed 
the  torchbearers  and  pointsmen  of  an  immense  host — and 

^  Judges  vii.  19  f. ,  Luke  xii.  38. 

2  Thomson,  The  Laud  mid  the  Book. 

^  If  every  man  had  a  pitcher  and  a  torch  in  it,  he  had  no  room  in  his 
hands  for  a  horn.  Every  man  had  a  horn,  and  probably  it  is  implied  a  light 
and  pitcher  too  (ver.  16). 


400   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

shouted,  The  sivord !  for  fehovah  and  Gideon  !  But  no 
sword  was  needed.  Cumbered  by  their  tents  and  cattle, 
the  Midianites,  as  in  several  other  instances  of  Arab  war- 
fare, fell  into  a  panic,  drew  upon  each  other,' 
and  finally  ^^(3f  down  the  Vale  to  Bcth-shittah, 
to  Sereda  near  Bethshan,^  unto  the  lip  of  Abelmeholak,  the 
deep  bank  over  which  the  Vale  of  Jezreel  falls  into  the 
valley  of  the  Jordan,  above  the  now  unknown  Tabbath?' 

(3)  The  next  campaign  on  Esdraelon  —  that  of  the 
Philistines  against  Saul — is  more  difficult  to  understand. 
(  )  Sauiandthe^^  ^^  uncertain  whether  the  narrative  (i  Sam. 
Philistines.  xxviii.-xxxi.)  runs  in  our  Bibles  in  the  proper 
order ;  and  we  do  not  know  where  Aphek  lay. 

As  the  narrative  now  runs,  the  Philistines  gather  to  war 
against  Israel  (xxviii.  i),  and  camp  at  Shunem,  whereupon 
Order  of  the  ^^"^  gathers  Israel,  and  camps  on  Gilboa  (v.  4) 
narrative.  ^^  Philistines  then  assemble  at  Aphek,  and 
Israel  pitches  by  a  fountain  in  Jezreel  (xxix,  i) ;  the 
battle  is  joined,  and  Israel  flee,  and  are  slain  in  mount 
Gilboa  (xxxi.  i).  This  order  implies  that  Aphek  was 
close  to  Shunem,  on  the  line  of  the  Philistine  advance  on 
Gilboa  ;  and  accordingly  it  has  been  sought  for,  both  at 

^  2  Chron.  iv.  17,  where  it  is  described  as  in  the  Plain  of  Jordan.  It  is 
the  same  as  Sartan,  i  Kings  vii.  46  ;  cf.  Josh.  iii.  16  ;  i  Kings  iv.  12. 

-  In  the  above  I  have  followed  the  plain  course  of  the  text,  for  it  suits 
throughout  the  geographical  conditions.  But  the  reader  ought  to  know 
that  there  are  very  great  difficulties  about  parts  of  the  narrative.  Why 
should  the  Ephraimites  afterwards  complain  of  being  called  out  too  late, 
and  Gideon  represent  that  the  work  had  been  done  by  Abi'ezer  alone 
(viii.  I,  2),  if  vi.  35  assures  us  that  Gideon  had  already  summoned  the  four 
tribes?  No  doubt  most  of  them  were  sent  back  after  the  test,  but  there  is 
no  sign  that  those  who  passed  the  test  were  only  Abi'ezrites.  Because  of 
this  some  critics  (cf.  Budde,  Ri.  u.  Sa.  iii  ff.)  strike  out  vi.  35,  and  the 
story  of  the  test  vii.  2-8,  and  so  leave  the  narrative  to  run  as  if  Gideon 
never  had  more  than  300  men,  all  from  Abi'ezer,  till  after  the  defeat  of 
Midian  was  achieved. 


Esdraelon  40 1 

Fuleh  on  the  Plain,  where  the  Crusaders  had  a  castle  and 
Kleber's  squares,  in  1799,  beat  back  the  Turks  ;  and  at 
Fuku'a,  on  Gilboa  itself,  on  the  road  from  Jenin  to  Beth- 
shan  across  the  hill,  as  if  the  Philistines  moved  from 
Shunem  to  the  south-east  of  Saul's  position,  and  attacked 
him  from  the  rear,  and  upon  his  own  level.  But  neither 
of  these  sites  has  been  proved  to  be  Aphek.^ 

In  the  order  of  the  Philistines'  advance,  however,  ought 
not  Shunem  to  be  placed  after  Aphek  ?  Probably  we 
should  rearrange  the  chapters  of  the  narrative,  so  as  to 
put  xxix.-xxx.  between  the  second  and  third  verses  of 
xxviii.  Then  the  order  of  events  would  run  :  the  Philis- 
tine muster  (xxviii.  i)  ;  their  gathering  to  Aphek  and  the 
encampment  of  Israel  by  the  fountain  which  is  in  Jezreel 
(xxix.  i)  ;  the  Philistines'  advance  towards  Jezreel  {id.  1 1)  ; 
their  camp  on  Shunem  and  Israel's  on  Gilboa  (xxviii.  4)  ; 
the  battle  on  Gilboa  (xxxi.  i).-  On  this  order,  the  uncer- 
tainties are  the  position  of  Aphek  and  that  of  the  fountain 
which  is  in  Jezreel.  Some  have  placed  Aphek  in  Sharon, 
at  the  mouth  of  an  easy  pass  into  Samaria,  identifying  it 
with  the  Aphek  of  the  previous  Philistine  invasion,  when 
the  ark  was  taken.^     But  this  has  not  been  proved,  and  in 

^  II  is  extremely  unlikely  that  the  Philiblines  should  move  from  Sliuncm  to 
the  present  Fuleh,  for  the  Litter  is  farther  off  than  Shunem  from  Gilboa.  It 
is  Major  Conder  who  suggests  Fuku'a.  We  passed  over  the  road  from  Jenin 
to  Ecth-shan.  From  the  plain  up  to  Fuku'a  the  road  is  easy  for  chariots,  and 
about  Fuku'a  there  is  open  ground.  But  the  ground  between  that  and  the 
l)art  of  Gilboa  above  the  'Ain  Jalud  is  broken  by  glens.  Besides,  there  is  no 
affinity  between  the  names  Aphek  and  Fuku'a. 

-  So  Reuss,  Budde,  etc. 

^  2  Sam.  iv.  i.  See  chs.  x.  and  xvii.  On  the  identification  uf  the  two 
Apheks  at  which  the  Philistines  pitched,  see  Wellh.  Hist.  Eng.  Ed.  p.  39, 
and  Robertson  Smith,  O.T./.C.  p.  435.  They  go  farther  and  absorb  in  this 
Aphek,  the  Aphek  from  which  the  Syrians  attacked  Samaria  (i  Kings  xx.  26). 
This  is  cjuite  out  of  the  question. 

2  C 


402    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  La^id 

connection  with  the  passage  before  us,  it  is  hard  to  believe 
that  Saul's  advance  to  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon,  which  is 
given  as  simultaneous  with  the  Palestine  gathering  at 
Aphek,  should  have  taken  place  while  the  Philistines  were 
still  in  Sharon,  for  that  would  have  been  to  leave  all  Ben- 
jamin and  Ephraim  undefended  to  their  pleasure.  Saul 
must  \vaMQ.  folloived  \}ci&  Philistines  to  Esdraelon  ;  and  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  think  of  him  leaving  Jenin,  the  great 
entrance  to  the  hill-country  of  Israel/  and  advancing  to 
Gilboa  till  he  saw  the  Philistines  move  across  the  plain  to 
Shunem.  In  this  case,  while  Aphek  remains  unknown, 
we  might  take  the  fountain  which  is  in  Jezreel  to  be  the 
great  fountain  at  Jenin,  *Ain  Gannim,  Jezreel  being  in- 
tended for  the  whole  district.  That  would  give  us  a 
consistent  story  of  the  earlier  stages  of  the  campaign.^ 

However  that  may  be,  the  rest  is  clear.  The  Philistines 
had  entered  Esdraelon — doubtless  by  Megiddo.  Had 
The  Battle  of  their  aim  been  the  invasion  of  the  hill-country, 
Mount  Gilboa.  ^j^^y  would  have  turned  south-east  to  Jenin, 
and  Saul  would  have  met  them  there.  That,  instead,  we 
find  them  striking  north-east  to  Shunem,  at  the  head  of 
the  Vale  of  Jezreel,  proves  that  at  least  their  first  intention 
had  to  do  with  the  Valley  of  the  Jordan.  Either  they  had 
come  to  subjugate  all  the  low  country,  and  so  confine 
Israel,  as  the  Canaanites  did,  to  the  hills,  or  else  they 
sought  to  secure  their  caravan  route  to  Damascus  and 
the  East,  from  Israel's  descents  upon  it  by  the  roads 
from  Bezek  to  Bethshan  and  across   Gilboa.^     In  either 

1  See  \^.  356. 

"  The  only  othur  alternative,  of  supposing  two  differing  narratives,  one  of 
which  assigns  the  Philistine  muster  to  Aphek,  the  other  to  Shunem,  is  not  so 
probable. 

•*  This  would  afford  a  parallel  to  their  occupation  of  Michmash  ( I  Sam.  xiii.  5) 


Esdraelon  403 

case  Saul  must  not  be  permitted  to  remain  where  he  was, 
for  from  Gilboa  he  could  descend  with  equal  ease  upon 
Esdraelon  and  the  Valley  of  the  Jordan.  Thay  attacked 
him,  therefore,  on  his  superior  position.  Both  the  narra- 
tive of  the  battle  and  the  great  Elegy  in  which  the  defeat 
was  mourned  imply  that  the  fighting  was  upon  the  heights 
of  Gilboa,  and  yet  upon  ground  over  which  cavalry  and 
chariots  might  operate.^  The  Philistines  could  not  carry 
Saul's  position  directly  from  Shunem,  for  that  way  the 
plain  dips,  and  the  deep  bed  of  the  stream  intervenes  and 
the  rocks  of  Gilboa  are  steep  and  high.^  But  they  went 
round  Jezreel,  and  attacked  the  promontory  of  the  hill  by 
the  easier  slopes  and  wadies  to  the  south,  which  lead  up 
to  open  ground  about  the  village  of  Nuris,  and  directly 
above  the  'Ain  Jalud.  Somewhere  on  these  slopes  they 
must  have  encountered  that  desperate  resistance  which 
cost  Israel  the  life  of  three  of  the  king's  sons  ;  and  some- 
where higher  up  the  gigantic  king  himself,  wounded  and 
pressed  hard  by  the  chariots  and  horsemen,  yet  imperious 
to  the  last,  commanded  his  own  death."' 

on  the  trade-route  from  Ajalon  to  Jericho,  and  to  the  trace  of  Philistine 
occupation  which  appears  in  the  name  Beth-Dagon  near  Shechem,  on  the 
only  other  pass  from  east  to  west  across  the  Central  Range.  On  the  Philis- 
tines as  traders,  see  ch.  ix. 

'  I  Sam.  xxxi.  \.,fell  down  ivoundcd on  Mount  Gilboa  ;  2  Sam.  i.  6,  upon 
Mount  Gilboa,  behold,  Saul  leaned  on  his  spear  ;  and,  lo,  the  chariots  and  the 
horsemen  followed  hard  after  him  ;  cf.  in  the  Elegy,  vv.  ig,  high  places  ;  21, 
Ye  hills  of  Gilboa  .  .  .  for  there  the  shield  of  the  mighty  is  vilely  cast  aivay, 
SauPs  shield  ;  25,  C  Jonathan,  slain  on  thy  high  places.  -  See  p.  398. 

3  The  above  view  of  the  battle  was  formed  on  the  ground,  and  I  am  glad 
to  find  that  in  the  main  it  is  the  same  as  that  of  so  expert  an  observer  as 
Principal  jNIiller,  who  surveyed  the  ground  in  detail,  and  gives  both  a  gradual 
description  of  the  course  of  the  fight  and  careful  plans,  that  include  not  only 
the  contours  of  the  ground,  but  what  he  believes  to  have  been  successive 
positions  of  the  hard-pressed  Israelites.  Principal  Miller  exposes  the  errors 
in  Dean  Stanley's  account,  in  which  the  battle  is  described  as  on  the  plain, 


404    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

And  David  sang  this  dirge  over   Slid  id  and  Jehona- 
The  Dirge,      than  his  SOU  :  1    Behold  it   is   written    in   the 
Book  of  the  Brave? 

IsrcCel,  the  Beauty  is  slain  on  thy  hcii^Jits. 
How  fallen  are  the  mighty  ! 

Tell  it  ?tot  ift  Gath, 

Publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Ashkelon  / 

Lest  they  rejoice,  the  daughters  of  the  Philistines  j 

Lest  they  tnake  triumph,  the  uncircumcised s  daughters. 

Hills  of  Gilboa, 

Let  not  dew,  let  fiot  rain  he  upon  you. 

Ye  fields  of  discomfiture  !  ^ 

For  there  thrown  to  rust  is  the  shield  of  the  mighty, 

ShduPs  shield  unanointed  with  oil^ 

From  the  blood  of  the  slain, 

Frotn  the  fat  of  the  mighty. 

Bow  of  fehonathan  drew  not  back. 

Nor  sword  of  ShaJid  came  home  empty. 

and  only  the  flight  on  the  hills.  But  surely  he  himself  is  not  justified  in  de- 
claring from  xxix.  1 1  that  the  Philistines  occupied  the  town  of  Jezreel  before 
the  battle.  He  conceives  Saul's  position  on  Gilboa  to  be  due  to  his  rash 
designs  of  adding  to  his  kingdom  the  whole  of  Northern  Palestine — rash,  for 
so  Saul  left  Benjamin  and  Ephraim  undefended.  This,  however,  is  not 
certain.      The  Least  of  all  Lands,  ch.  vi.     Plans  on  pp.  15 1  and  171. 

^  Gloss  :  He  hade  thciii  teach  the  children  of  fudah  dirges  or  lamcnlations, 
reading  m^p  for  D'C'p.  -  Iti^'',  the  Upright,  Valiant. 

^  The  text  is  rilOlinnti'l,  which  is  really  unintelligible,  as  the  Massoretes 
divide  it,  but  by  a  very  little  alteration  reads  niOin^  ''^t^•1  or  T\\'l'^'\,  fields 
of  discomfitures,  frustrations,  wrecks.     Other  readings  are  Lucian's  DIO  ""in 

hills  of  death,  which  Renan  follows,  taking  "i"]t».»l  as  a  later  variant  that  has 
been  wrongly  brought  into  the  text  from  the  margin  ;  Stade's  niJOiy  '""Iti'l, 
nor  field  of  sheaves;  Klostermanu's  iT'O"!  HnkJ'.  Another  reading  might 
be  mONI  nnC',  cf.  Prov.  xxiv.  7  :  Justi,  Nationalgesdnge  der  Hebr.  i.  72, 
translates  Holies  Schlachtfeld.  Still  another  possibility  is  that  D''OT)  the  word 
for  blood,  is  lurking  among  the  last  letters.  This  would  be  natural,  for  it  is 
a  common  Semitic  idea  that  no  rain  or  dew  will  bless  the  spot  stained  by  the 
blood  of  a  slain  man. 

*  The  parallelism  shows  that  the  oil  refers  to  the  well-known  practice  of 
rubbing  shields  with  oil  to  preserve  them,  and  not  to  Saul,  translating  as  if 
he  were  not  the  Anointed. 


Esdraelon  405 


Sha}ul  and  Jehonathany  the  lovely,  the  pleasant , 

In  their  lives  and  in  their  death  they  were  not  divided : 

Than  eagles  they  were  swifter. 

Than  lions  more  strong. 

Daughters  of  Isrdcl,  weep  for  Slid!  til. 

Who  clothed  you  i)t  scarlet  with  jetvels; 

Who  In-ought  up  adorfiing  of  gold  on  yo7ir  raiment. 

How  fallen  are  the  mighty  ! 
In  the  midst  of  the  battle 
Ieho7iathan,  on  thy  heights,  is  slain  .' 

Anguish  is  mine  for  thy  sake,  O  my  brother  ! 
Jehojiathan,  thou  wert  very  fair  to  me  / 
Thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful, 
Passing  the  love  of  women. 

How  fallen  are  the  mighty, 

Atid pej'ished  tJie  weapons  of  war  ! 

(4)  Esdraelon  was  the  scene  of  another  lamentation  for 
another  king  in  Israel.  In  Jeremiah's  time  it  had  long  been 
prophesied  that  Egypt  would  come  upon  the  (4)  josiah 
land,  but  the  people  did  not  heed  it,  saying,  ""'^  Egypt. 
Pharaoh  is  hit  a  rwnoiir,  the  time  appointed  is  past. 
Jeremiah  replied  he  should  come,  as  surely  as  Tabor  is 
among  the  motcntains,  and  as  Cannel  by  the  sea.^  And  so  he 
did  by  Megiddo,  till  his  host  filled  the  plain  between  these 
hills  as  solid  and  present  a  fact  as  either  of  them."     Josiah, 

1  Jer.  xlvi.  18. 

-  It  is  doubtful  whether  Pharaoh  Necho  came  to  Syria  by  the  usual  land 
route,  or,  as  Vespasian  on  one  occasion  sent  his  troops,  by  sea  (Herod,  ii.  15S), 
and  Cheyne  suggests  Dor  as  his  landing-place  {Life  and  Time  ofjerem.,  96). 
But  the  only  ground  for  the  latter  alternative  is  the  conjunction  in  Herod, 
of  Necho's  ship-building  with  his  campaign  ;  and,  if  he  had  come  by  sea,  he 
would  surely  have  landed  not  at  Dor,  but  at  Acco,  in  which  case,  however,  he 
would  not  have  marched  so  far  south  again  as  Megiddo.  The  battle  at  Megiddo 
suits  the  land  route.  The  Md75a\os  of  Herodotus  is  no  doubt  a  corruption  of 
Megiddon.  Me^Si?,  in  Jos.  x.  Antt.  v.  i.,  is  a  patent  error,  H^D  for  HiJO- 
and  an  interesting  proof  of  the  terrible  risks  which  the  place-names  of  Palestine 
have  been  subject  to  in  seven  or  eight  languages. 


4o6   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

who  had  no  need  to  put  himself  in  Pharaoh's  way,  had 
rashly  ventured  opposition  at  Megiddo.  But  his  army  was 
The  Battle  foutcd,  and  himself  mortally  wounded  as  soon 
of  Megiddo.  ^g  they  met.^  And  Jeremiah  made  a  dirge  upon 
Josiah,  and  all  the  singing-men  and  the  singing-women  speak 
of  Josiah  in  their  dirges  to  this  day.  So  they  made  them  a 
custom  in  Israel ;  and,  lo,  they  are  written  amojig  The 
Dirges?  And  the  mourning  of  Hadadrimmon  in  the  Vale 
of  Megiddon  became  a  proverb  in  Israel.^  The  dirges  of 
Jeremiah  have  perished,  and,  indeed,  he  himself  depre- 
cated the  extremes  to  which  this  national  lamentation 
was  carried.  Israel  was  approaching  a  greater  calamity 
which  would  require  all  her  tears : 

'  Weep  7tot  for  the  dead,  nor  benwan  him. 
But  weeping  weep  for  him  that  goetJt.  away, 
For  he  shall  net'er  cotiie  back,  nor  see  the  laiid  of  his  birth}  * 

(5)  The  rest  of  the  historical  scenes  of  Esdraelon,  there 

is   space   only   to    enumerate.      But    perhaps    the   mere 

succession  of  them  will  impress  us,  more  than 

(5)  The  .  r  > 

Pageant  of    detailed  accounts  could  do,  with  the  constant 

Esdraelon. 

pageant  of  commerce,  war,  and  judgment, 
which  throughout  the  centuries  has  traversed  this  wonderful 
arena.  From  Jezreel  you  see  the  slaughter-place  of  the 
priests  of  Baal ;  you  see  Jehu's  ride  from  Bethshan  to  the 

vineyard  of  Naboth  at  your  feet ;  you  see  the 

The  Syrians. 

enormous  camp  of  Holofernes  spreading  from 
the  hills  above  Jenin,  out  to  Kuamon  in  the  plain  \^  you 

^  2  Kings  xxiii.  29,  as  soon  as  he  had  seen  him. 

-  2  Chron.  xxxv.  24,  25.  3  2ech.  xii.  11.  *  Jar.  xxii.  10. 

•'"'  Judith  vii.  3.  K(;a;tiw;/  =  bean-field,  has  been  identified  with  Tell  Keimun 
at  the  foot  of  Carmel  ;  but  some  think  to  find  it  at  Fuleh,  which  also  means 
bean.  The  description  of  Kjuafiuv  which  is  opposite  Esdraelon  (name  of  plain 
or  of  city?)  suits  both  Keimun  and  Fuleh. 


Esdi^aelon  407 


see  the  marches  and  counter  -  marches  of  Syrians, 
Egyptians,  and  Jews  in  the  Hasmonean  days^ — the 
elephants  and  engines  of  Antiochus,  the  litters  of  Cleopatra 
and  her  ladies.     The  Romans  come  and  plant 

The  Romans. 

their  camps  and  stamp  their  mighty  names  for 
ever  on  the  soil,  Legio  and  Kastra ;  Pompey,  Mark 
Antony,  Vespasian,  and  Titus  pass  at  the  head  of  their 
legions,-  and  the  men  of  Galilee  sally  forth  upon  them 
from  the  same  nooks  in  the  hills  of  Naphtali  from  which 
their  forefathers  broke  with  Barak  upon  the  chariots  of 
Canaan.2  After  the  Roman  war  comes  the  Roman  peace, 
and  for  a  great  interval  of  centuries  Esdraelon  is  no  more 
blotted  by  the  black  tents  of  the  Bedouin  ;  but  a  broad 
civilisation  grows  between  her  and  Arabia,  and  Jordan  is 
bridged,  and  from  the  Greek  cities  of  the  Decapolis 
chariots  and  bands  of  soldiers,  officials,  and  Y.M:\y 
provincial  wits  on  their  way  to  Rome,  pass  to  Christians. 
the  ports  of  Caesarea  and  Ptolemais.*  In  the  fourth 
century  Christian  pilgrims  arrive,  and  cloisters  are  built 
from  Bethshan  to  Carmel.^      Three  centuries 

The  Moslem. 

of  this,  and  then  through  their  old  channel  the 

Desert  swarms  sweep  back,  now  united  by  a  common  faith, 

^  I  Mace.  xii.  41-52,  recounting  Trypho's  treacherous  capture  of  Jonathan 
Maccabeus,  which  added  another  to  the  woes  and  lamentations  of  this  tragic 
plain.  Jos.  xiii.  Anit.  ix.  3:  Demetrius  11.,  defeated  by  Alexander  Zabinas,  falls 
back  on  Ptolemais  (Acre).  Ibid.  x.  2,  Ilyrcanus  moves  between  Sebaste  and 
Scythopolis,  Ibid,  xii.,  Alexander  Janneus  takes  Ptolemais,  and  fights  with 
the  Egyptian  forces  between  that  and  Jordan,  cir.  103  B.C.  lb.  xiii.  Cleopatra, 
mother  of  Ptolemy  Lathiirus,  besieges  Ptolemais,  and  meets  Alexander  Janneus 
in  Bethshan.  lb.  xiv.  i :  So  Demetrius  Eucherus  went  up  to  Shechem  at  the 
call  of  the  Pharisees,  xv.  2 :  So  Aretas  must  have  come  from  Damascus  to 
Adida. 

-  See  references  on  p.  410.  '  Jos.  ii.  Wars,  xxi.  3. 

■*  Cf.  Mommsen's  Provinces  of  the  Roman  Etnpire,  Eng.  Ed.  n.  eh.  x. 

"  For  authorities,  see  p.  17. 


4o8    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  with  the  vigour  of  a  new  civilisation  ;  you  see  before 
them  the  rout  of  the  Greek  army  up  the  Vale  of  Jezreel.^ 
The  Arabs  stay  for  nearly  five  hundred  years,  obliterating 
the  past,  distorting  the  familiar  and  famous  names.  Then 
the  ensigns  of  Christendom  return.  Crusading  castles 
rise — on  the  Plain  Sapham  and  Faba^  under 

The  Crusades. 

the  black  and  white  banner  of  the  Templars, 
and  high  up  on  the  ridge  north  of  Bethshan — so  high 
and  far  that  it  is  called  by  the  Arabs  Star-of-the- 
Wind — Belvoir  under  the  Red  Cross  of  the  Hospitallers.^ 
Cloisters  are  rebuilt,  and  thriving  villages,  for  justice  and 
shelter  given  them,  bring  their  tribute  to  the  Abbey  of 
Mount  Tabor ;  pilgrims  throng  from  all  lands,  and  the 
holy  memories  are  replanted — not  always  on  their  proper 
sites.^  Once  more  by  Bethshan  the  Arabs  break  the  line 
Return  of  ^^  ^^^  Christian  defence,  and  Saladin  spreads 
the  Moslem,  j^jg  camp  where  Israel  saw  those  of  Midian  and 
the  Philistines ;  ^  through  a  long  hot  summer  the  castles 
of  the  Cross  yield  one  by  one,  till  Belvoir  holds  out  alone, 
flying  the  Red  Cross  for  eighteen  months  over  a  Saracen 
country.  Finally,  after  two  last  forlorn  hopes — one  of 
Andrew  of  Hungary,  who  carried  the  Cross  to  the  top  of 
Tabor,  and  was  beaten   down   again,^  and   one  of  Saint 

1  See  p.  359. 

-  '  The  Bean  •. '  also  called  La  Feve  and  La  Fene,  Rey,  Col.  Fr.  439 ; 
Riihricht,  Z.D.P.V.  x.  231,  232.  Known  to  the  Saracens  as  El-Fulah  = 
'  The  Bean.'     Boha-ed-din  Saladin,  ch.  24.,  Abulfeda  Ed.  Schultens,  p.  41. 

"  Arabic,  Kaukab-el-Hawa ;  called  by  Franks  also  Delehawa :  Prutz, 
Z.D.P.  V.  p.  168. 

*  Rohricht,  op.  cit.  on  p.  17. 

^  At  the  fountain  of  Tubania,  a  little  way  out  on  the  plain  north  of  Jezreel, 
cf-  P-  397  n.  2.  This  was  in  1 186  when  Saladin  had  to  retire,  but  he  returned 
and  won  the  decisive  battle  of  Hattin  on  14th  June  1187,  and  occupied  Acre 
9th  July,  took  Jerusalem  1188,  but  Belvoir  did  not  fall  till  Jan.  1 189. 

*=  Andrew  in  1217,  the  Sixth  Crusade  ;  Louis  in  1270,  the  Eighth  Crusade. 


Esdraelon  409 


Louis  of  France,  who  marched  to  Jordan  and  back — 
Esdraelon  is  closed  to  the  arms  of  the  West,  till  in  1799 
Napoleon  with  his  monstrous  ambition  of  an 

Napoleon. 

Empire  on   the  Euphrates,  breaks   into  it  by 
Megiddo,   and    in    three   months   again,   from    the   same 
fatal  stage,  falls  back  upon  the  first  great  Retreat  of  his 
career. 

What  a  Plain  it  is  !  Upon  which  not  only  the  greatest 
empires,  races,  and  faiths,  east  and  west,  have  contended 
with  each  other,  but  each  has  come  to  The  Battle  of 
judgment— on  which  from  the  first,  with  all  Armageddon, 
its  splendour  of  human  battle,  men  have  felt  that  there 
zvas  fighting  from  heaven,  the  stars  in  their  courses  were 
figJiting — on  which  panic  has  descended  so  mysteriously 
upon  the  best  equipped  and  most  successful  armies,  but 
the  humble  have  been  exalted  to  victory  in  the  hour  of 
their  weakness — on  which  false  faiths,  equally  with  false 
defenders  of  the  true  faith,  have  been  exposed  and 
scattered — on  which  since  the  time  of  Saul  wilfulness  and 
superstition,  though  aided  by  every  human  excellence, 
have  come  to  nought,  and  since  Josiah's  time  the  purest 
piety  has  not  atoned  for  rash  and  inistaken  zeal.  The 
Crusaders  repeat  the  splendid  folly  of  the  kings  of  Israel ; 
and,  alike  under  the  old  and  the  new  covenant,  a  degene- 
rate church  suffers  here  her  judgment  at  the  hands  of  the 
infidel. 

TJiey  go  fort Ji  unto  the  kings  of  tJie  earth  and  of  the  ivhole 
world  to  gather  them  to  the  battle  of  the  great  Day  of  God 
Almighty  .  .  .  and  He  gathered  them  together  unto  a  place 
called  in  the  Hebreiv  tongue  Har  Mcgeddon. 


4IO   The  Historical  Geograt>Jiy  of  the  Holy  Land 


NOTE  TO  PAGE  407.— REFERENCES  TO  THE  ROMANS 
ON  ESDRAELON. 

Pompey,  64  B.C.,  xiv.  Antt.  iii.  4,  iv.  5,  Mark  Antony  under  Gabinius, 
ill  the  campaign  under  Gabinius,  57-55,  Ibid.  v.  Csesar,  in  47  B.C.,  visited 
Syria  by  sea.  Ibid.  viii.  3  and  6,  by  sea  to  Cilicia,  ix.  i  ;  but  we  do  not 
know  where  he  touched  (cf.  Sueton.  Jiilitts,  35).  Antony  was  again  in  Syria 
in  40  B.C.,  Ibid.  xiii.  I  and  from  36-33  partly,  with  Cleopatra  in  yiw.Aittt.  iv. , 
i.  Wars,  xviii.,  Plutarch,  Anton.  36-51.  Vespasian  reached  Ptolemais  in  67 
A.D.  iii.  Wars,  ii.  ff.  Titus  joined  him,  Ibid,  iv.  For  these  operations  in 
Esdraelon  and  Lower  Galilee,  Ibid.  vi.  ff.,  cf.  Sueton,  Vespasian,  5.  Tacitus, 
Hist.  iv.  51, 


CHAPTER    XX 
GALILEE 


For  this  Chapter  cotistilf  Maps  I.  and  VI. 


GALl LEE 

THIS  name,  which  binds  together  so  many  of  the 
most  holy  memories  of  our  race,  means  in  itself 
nothing  more  than  The  Ring.  Galil,  as  the  -caUkeo/ 
easily  slipping  letters  testify,  is  anything  that  "^^  Ccnttics. 
rolls,  or  is  round. ^  Like  our  circle,  or  circuit,  it  was 
applied  geographically  to  any  well-defined  region,  as,  for 
example,  the  region  east  of  Jerusalem,  which  Ezekiel  calls 
the  Eastern  Galilee,  or  to  the  Galilees  of  the  Jordan,  or  to 
the  Galilees  of  the  Philistines?  How  it  came  to  be  the 
peculiar  title  of  one  district,  and  take  rank  among  the 
most  significant  names  of  the  world,  was  as  follows. 
Gelil  ha-G6im — Ring  or  Region  of  the  Gentiles,  a  phrase 
analogous  to  the  German  Heidcnniark — was  applied  to  the 
northern  border  of  Israel,  which  was  pressed  and  permeated 

^  ?^bJ  (cf-  the  (jicck  KvX-Lvopov),  is  used  of  balls,  cylinders  or  rings  (Esther 
i.  6  ;  Cant.  v.  14),  or  the  leaf  of  a  door  turning  on  its  hinge  (i  Kings  vi.  34). 

-  But  in  all  these  cases  it  was  the  feminine.  HJOTpn  n?^?in,  the  region 
to  the  east  of  Jerusalem  (Ezek.  xlvii.  8).  Plural  plTl  017  vJ,  the  circles  of 
Jordan  (Josh.  .\xii.  10,  il)  ;  cf.  '  /i/i/cs  of  Forth.'  n'^?S  DP^PJ  (Joel  iv.  4), 
circles  of  the  Philistines  (cf.  Josh.  xiii.  2).  This  name  may  possibly  survive 
in  the  Crusaders'  Galilaea,  name  of  a  casale,  and  '  tola  Galilea,'  name  of  a 
district  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cxsarea.  Prutz,  Besitzungcn  des  Johanniter- 
ordens  in  Pal.  ti.  Syr.  Z.D.P.  V.  iv.  157  ff.  with  map.  Prutz  refers  it  to 
Kalkilye,  but  it  is  more  probably  the  present  Jelil,  in  the  same  neighbour- 
hood. 

413 


414   The  Histoj^ical  GeograpJiy  of  the  Holy  Land 

from  three  sides  by  foreign  tribes.  Thence  the  name 
gradually  spread,  till  in  Isaiah's  time  it  was  as  far 
south  as  the  Lake  of  Gennesaret.^  By  the  time  of  the 
Maccabees  it  had  reached  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon,  and 
covered  the  whole  of  the  most  northerly  of  the  three 
provinces  into  which,  after  the  Exile,  the  land  west  of 
Jordan  was  divided.^ 

The  population  remained  far  more  Gentile  than  before. 
The  Jews  who  settled  in  Galilee  after  the  Return  from 
Galilee  of  Babylon  were  few,  and  about  164  B.C.  Simon 
the  Jews.  Maccabeus  had  to  bring  them  all  back  to 
Judaea.3  But  the  extension  of  the  Jewish  state  under 
John  Hyrcanus,  135-105,  must  have  enabled  many  Jews 
to  return  to  the  attractive  province  without  fear  of  per- 
secution, and  either  that  monarch  or  his  successor  added 
Galilee  to  his  domains,  and  sought  to  enforce  the  law 
upon  its  inhabitants.^  Very  soon  afterwards,  in  104, 
Galilee  had  developed  a  loyalty  to  the  Jewish  state  suffi- 
cient  to   throw  off  a  strong  invader.^     From   this  time 

^  Isa.  ix.  I  (Heb.  viii.  23). 

-  In  I  Mace,  the  boundaries  are  indefinite.  Galilee  was  still,  in  a  sense, 
distinct  from  the  Great  Plain,  xii.  47,  49 ;  but  it  covered  the  neighbourhood 
of  Ptolemais  (Acre),  v.  55. 

^  I  ISIacc.  V.  23.  Schiirer  {Hist.  i.  I,  192)  rightly  corrects  Keil  on  this 
verse. 

^  Schiirer  {Hist.  i.  i,  294)  thinks  that  the  Jewish  conquest  of  Galilee  was 
not  made  till  Aristobulus  I.  105- 104  B.C.  But  the  conquest  of  Itursean  terri- 
tory N.  E.  of  Galilee,  which  is  mentioned  by  Josephus  (xiii.  Atitt.  xi.  3)  as 
the  only  triumph  of  the  brief  reign  of  Aristobulus,  could  hardly  have  been 
undertaken  without  the  previous  conquest  of  Galilee  by  his  predecessor  ;  and 
with  this  agrees  the  ambiguous  statement  that  Hyrcanus  had  his  son  Alex- 
ander brought  up  in  Galilee  (ib.  xii.  l).  In  the  opening  of  next  reign, 
Alexander  Janneus  (104-78),  we  find  Galilee  so  thoroughly  Jewish  that 
Ptolemy  Lathurus  has  difficulty  in  his  siege  of  Asochis,  and  is  unable  to  take 
Sepphoris  {ih.  4,  5).  This  seems  to  require,  for  the  Judaising  of  Galilee,  an 
earlier  date  in  the  reign  of  John  Hyrcanus. 

^  See  previous  Note. 


Galilee  4 1 5 

onwards  it  was,  therefore,  natural  to  drop  out  of  her  name 

the  words,  of  the  Gentiles,  which  were  before  this  time  not 

ahvays  used,  but  the  definite  article  was  retained,  and 

throughout  the  New  Testament  she  was  known  as  The 

Galilee.      It   was,   we    can    understand,   pleasing   to   the 

patriotism  of  her  proud  inhabitants  to  call  their  famous 

and  beautiful  province.  The  Region.^ 

The  natural  boundaries  of  Galilee  arc  obvious.     South, 

the    Plain    of    Esdraelon    (and    we    have    seen    why   this 

frontier  should    be   the  southern  and  not  the 

'1  he  Round- 
northern  edge  of  the  plain  -) ;  north,  the  great  aries  of 

Galilee. 

gorge  of  the  Litany  or  Kasimiyeh,^  cutting  off 
Lebanon  ;  east,  the  valley  of  the  Jordan  and  the  Lake  of 
Gennesaret  ;  and  west,  the  narrow  Phoenician  coast.  This 
region  coincides  pretty  closely  with  the  territories  of  four 
tribes — Issachar,  Zebulun,  Asher,  and  Naphtali.  But  the 
sea-coast,  claimed  for  Zebulun  and  Asher,  never  belonged 
either  to  them  or  to  the  province  of  Galilee  :  it  was  always 
Gentile.  On  the  other  hand,  owing  to  the  weakness  of 
the  Samaritans,  Carmel  was  reckoned  to  Galilee  when  it 
was  not  in  the  hands  of  the  men  of  Tyre  ;  *  and  the  eastern 

^  ^"bjn  (Josh.  XX.  7,  xxi.  32 ;  i  Chron,  vi.  76).     ?''bjn  pK  (i  Kings  ix.  11). 

D''1jn  ^vJ  (Isa.  viii.  23).  In  2  Kings  xv.  29,  nPvJn-flN,  it  is  not  the 
feminine   form,    but  the   masculine,    with  H  paragog.,    that   is   used.     The 

feminine  HPvJ  is  not  applied  in  Hebrew  to  Galilee  (for  its  uses  see  p.  413, 

n.  I.)  But  the  LXX.  render  PvJH  17  YaXCkala.  In  Isa.  viii.  23  (LXX.  and 
Eng.  ix.  l)  TaXtXata  rdv  idvGiv.  In  the  Apocrypha  it  is  FoXtXaia  'A\\6<pv\(joi> 
(cf.  I  Mace.  V.  15,  etc.).  The  definite  article  is  omitted  only  in  i  Mace. 
X.  30.  And  so  in  the  N.T.  it  is  i]  Va\i\aia,  the  definite  article  being 
omitted  only  twice.  "  See  p.  379. 

^  Too  readily  assumed  to  be  the  Lion  River,  Leontes  {A^ovroi  iroTa.fj.ot 
eK^oXdi)  of  Ptolemy,  v.  15,  which  he  places  between  Sidon  and  Beyrout, 
and  which,  if  he  was  right,  may  be  the  Botrcnus,  the  present  Nahr  el  Awleh. 
There  is  no  connection  between  the  names  Litany  and  Leontes. 

■•  Josephus,  iii.  IFars,  iii.  I.     See  p.  338. 


41 6    The  Historical  Geography  of  t lie  Holy  Land 

shores  of  Gennesaret  also  fell  within  the  province.^  Ex- 
clusive of  these  two  additions,  Galilee  measured  about 
fifty  miles  north  to  south,  and  from  twenty-five  to  thirty- 
five  east  and  west.  The  area  was  only  about  1600  square 
miles,  or  that  of  an  average  English  shire. 

From  the  intricacy  of  its  highlands,  the  map  of  Galilee 
seems  at  first  impossible  to  arrange  to  the  eye.  But, 
The  divisions  ^^^^]?  ^  ^^^^'^^  C2iXZ,  the  ruling  features  are  dis- 
of  Galilee.  tinguishcd,  and  the  whole  province  falls  into 
four  divisions.  There  is  the  Jordan  Valley  with  its  two  lakes, 
that  singular  chasm,  which  runs  along  the  east  of  Galilee, 
sinking  from  Hermon's  base  to  more  than  700  feet  below 
the  level  of  the  ocean.^  From  this  valley,  and  corresponding 
roughly  to  its  three  divisions, — below  the  Lake  of  Tiberias, 
the  lake  itself,  and  above  the  lake, — three  belts  or  strips 
run  westward  :  first,  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon  ;  second,  the 
so-called  Lower  Galilee,  a  series  of  long  parallel  ranges,  all 
below  1850  feet,  which,  with  broad  valleys  between  them, 
cross  from  the  plateau  above  Tiberias  to  the  maritime 
plains  of  Haifa  and  Acre ;  and  third.  Upper  Galilee,  a 
series  of  plateaus,  with  a  double  water-parting,  and  sur- 
rounded by  hills  from  2000  to  4000  feet.^     As  you  gaze 

1  Thus,  Judas  who  led  the  revolt  against  them  in  6  A.D.  is  called  the 
Galilean,  di/rjp  raXtXoios  (Josephus  ii.  Wars,  viii.  i),  although  he  belonged 
to  Gamala  in  Gaulanitis  (xviii.  Antt.  i.  l).  Just  in  the  same  way  at  this  day 
'  the  whole  coast  district  is  under  the  administration  of  the  Kada  Tubariya. ' 
(Schumacher,  Thejauldn,  p.  103.)      It  is  the  most  convenient  arrangement. 

"  Opposite  Bethshan. 

"  The  division  between  Upper  and  Lower  Galilee  is  very  evident  on  the 
map.  It  runs,  roughly  speaking,  from  the  north  end  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee 
(or  to  the  south  of  Safed),  by  the  Wady  Maktul  leading  up  from  the  Plain  of 
Gennesaret,  thence  by  the  level  ground  between  Kefr  Anan  and  er  Rameh 
due  west  towards  Acre.  South  of  this  line  there  is  no  height  of  over  1850 
feet,  the  peaks  run  from  looo  to  1850,  with  Jebel  es  Sih  1838,  and  Tabor 
1843.  But  north  of  this  lint  the  steep  constant  wall  of  the  northern  plateau 
rises  almost  immediately,  and  figures  from  2000  to  3000  are  frequent  on  the 


Galilee  4 1 7 

north  from  the  Saniarian  border,  these  three  zones  rise  in 
steps  above  one  another  to  the  beginnings  of  Lebanon ; 
and  from  the  north-east,  over  the  gulf  of  the  Jordan,  the 
snowy  head  of  Hermon  looks  down  athwart  them. 

The  controlling  feature  of  Galilee  is  her  relation  to 
these  great  mountains.  A  native  of  the  region  has  aptly 
described  it  in  the  picture  he  gives  of  God's  TheLebanons 
grace.  /  ivill  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel;-  he  andGaUiee. 
shall  blossom  as  the  lily,  and  cast  forth  his  roots  like 
Lebanon}  Galilee  is  literally  the  casting  forth  of  the  roots 
of  Lebanon.  As  the  supports  of  a  great  oak  run  up  above 
ground,  so  the  gradual  hills  of  Galilee  rise  from  Esdraelon 
and  Jordan  and  the  Phoenician  coast,  upon  that  tremen- 
dous northern  mountain.  It  is  not  Lebanon,  however, 
but  the  opposite  range  of  Hermon,  which  dominates  the 
view.  Among  his  own  roots  Lebanon  is  out  of  sight ; 
whereas  that  long,  glistening  ridge,  that  stands  aloof, 
always  brings  the  eye  back  to  itself  In  summer,  hot 
harvesters  from  every  field  lift  their  hearts  to  Hermon's 
snow  ;  and  the  heavy  dews  of  night  they  call  his  gift. 
How  closely  Hermon  was  identified  with  Galilee,  is  seen 
from  his  association  with  the  most  characteristic  of  the 
Galilean  hills  :  Tabor  and  Hermon  rejoice  in  Thy  name?' 

To  her  dependence  on  the  Lebanons  Galilee  owes  her 

map.  The  Talmud  marks  this  line  of  division  as  follows  :  '  Upper  Galilee 
above  Kefar  Hananyah,  a  country  where  sycomores  are  not  found ;  Lower 
Galilee  below  Kefar  Hananyah,  which  produces  sycomores.'  Kefar  Hananyah 
is  no  doubt  the  present  Kefr  Anan.  Josephus  gives  the  breadth  of  Lower 
Galilee  (north  and  south)  as  from  Xaloth,  at  the  roots  of  Tabor,  to  Berseba, 
which  has  not  been  identified,  but  which  may  be  the  present  Kh.  Abu  esh 
Sheba  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Kefr  Anan. 

^  Hosea  xiv.  5. 

^  Psalm  Ixxxix.  12.  How  far  they  believed  its  influence  to  travel  may 
be  seen  from  that  other  psalm  :  '  The  dew  of  Hermon  that  conieth  down  on 
the  tnoiintains  of  Zion  '  (Psalm  cxxxiii.). 

2   D 


41 8   The  Histoi'ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

water  and  her  immense  superiority  in  fruitfulness  to  both 

Judsea  and  Samaria.     This  is  not  because  Galilee  has  a 

s^reater  rainfall — her  excess  in  that  respect  is 

Water. 

slight/  and  during  the  dry  season  showers  are 
almost  as  unknown  as  in  the  rest  of  Palestine.  But  the 
moisture,  seen  and  unseen,  which  the  westerly  winds  lavish 
on  the  Lebanons,  are  stored  by  them  for  Galilee's  sake,  and 
dispensed  to  her  with  unfailing  regularity  all  round  the 
year.  They  break  out  in  the  full-born  rivers  of  the  Upper 
Jordan  Valley,  and  in  the  wealth  of  wells  among  her 
hills.  When  Judsea  is  dry  they  feed  the  streams  of  Gen- 
nesaret  and  Esdraelon.  In  winter  the  springs  of  Kishon 
burst  so  richly  from  the  ground,  that  the  Great  Plain  about 
Tabor  is  a  quagmire  ;  even  in  summer  there  are  fountains 
in  Esdraelon,  round  which  the  thickets  keep  green  ;  and 
in  the  glens  running  up  to  Lower  Galilee  the  paths  cross 
rivulets  and  sometimes  wind  round  a  marsh.  In  the  long 
cross  valleys,  winter  lakes  last  till  July,^  and  farther  north 
the  autumn  streams  descend  both  watersheds  with  a  music 
unheard  in  Southern  Palestine.  In  fact,  the  difference  in 
this  respect  between  Galilee  and  Judaea  is  just  the  differ- 
ence between  their  names — the  one  liquid  and  musical 
like  her  running  waters,  the  other  dry  and  dead  like  the 
fall  of  your  horse's  hoof  on  her  blistered  and  muffled  rock. 
So  much  water  means  an  exuberant  fertility.  We  have 
seen  what  Esdraelon  is,  and  we  may  leave  for  separate 
treatment    the    almost    tropic    regions    of    the     Jordan 

^  The  figures  are  few  for  Nazareth  (we  owe  them  to  Dr.  Vartan).  Com- 
paring them  with  those  for  Jerusalem  by  Dr.  Chaplin,  Anderlind  makes  out 
a  difference  of  4'i6  centimetres  in  the  annual  rainfall;  Jerusalem,  57-01  ; 
Nazareth,  61  "17.     Jerusalem  is  2300  feet  above  the  sea,  Nazareth,  about  1000. 

-  So  the  Plain  of  Buttauf  was  in  that  month  still  partly  a  lake. — Conder'g 
Tent  Work. 


Galilee  419 

Valley.  But  take  Lower  and  Upper  Galilee,  with  their 
more  temperate  climate.  They  are  almost  as  well  wooded 
as  our  own  land.     Tabor  is  covered  with  bush, 

,  .  ,  .  ,         .  ,    ,  ,  Fertility. 

and  on  its  northern  side  with  large,  loose  groves 
of  forest  trees.  The  road  which  goes  up  from  the  Bay  of 
Carmel  to  Nazareth  winds,  as  among  English  glades,  with 
open  woods  of  oak  and  an  abundance  of  flowers  and  grass. 
Often,  indeed,  as  about  Nazareth,  the  limestone  breaks  out 
not  less  bare  and  dusty  than  in  Judaea  itself,  but  over  the 
most  of  Lower  Galilee  there  is  a  profusion  of  bush,  with 
scattered  forest  trees — holly-oak,  maple,  sycomore,  bay- 
tree,  myrtle,  arbutus,  sumac  and  others — and  in  the  valleys 
olive  orchards  and  stretches  of  fat  corn-land.  Except  for 
some  trees  like  the  sycomore.  Upper  Galilee  is  quite  as 
rich.  It  is  '  an  undulating  table-land,  arable,  and  every- 
where tilled,  with  swelling  hills  in  view  all  round,  covered 
with  shrubs  and  trees.'  ^  Above  Tyre  there  is  a  great 
plateau,  sloping  westwards.  It  is  '  all  cultivated,  and 
thronged  with  villages.'  To  the  south  of  the  Wady  el 
Ma  the  country  is  more  rugged,  and  cultivation  is  now 
pursued  only  in  patches  ;  -  yet  even  here  are  vines  and 
olives.  Round  Jotapata  Josephus  speaks  of  timber  being 
cut  down  for  the  town's  defence.'  Gischala  was  Gush- 
halab,  '  fat  soil,'  ^  and  was  noted  for  its  oil.  Throughout 
the  province  olives  were  so  abundant  that  a  proverb  ran, 
'  It  is  easier  to  raise  a  legion  of  olives  in  Galilee  than  to 
bring  up  a  child  in  Palestine.' ''     Even  on  the  high  water- 

^  Robinson,  L.R.     See  also  P.E.F.  Metn.  Sufvey,  iii. 

2  P.E.F.  Mem.  iii.,  Galilee. 

•^  iii.  V/ars,  vii.  8  ;  cf.  vi.  2.  *  Neubauer,  Gcog.  dtt  Talmud. 

^  Tahnud,  quoted  by  Neubauer,  p.  iSo.  The  abundance  of  oil  in  Galilee  is 
well  illustrated  in  the  use  made  of  boiling  oil  by  the  defenders  of  Jotapata, 
who  poured  great  quantities  of  it  on  the  Konian  soldiers  (iii.  Wars,  vii.  28). 


420    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

parting  between  Huleh  and  the  Mediterranean,  the  fields 
are  fertile,  while  the  ridges  are  covered  with  forests  of 
small  oaks.  To  the  inhabitants  of  such  a  land,  the  more 
luxuriant  vegetation  of  the  hot  plains  on  either  side  spreads 
its  temptations  in  vain, 

'  Asker,  Ms  bread  is  fat, 
And  he  yieldeth  the  dainties  of  a  kiftg. 
Blessed  be  As  her  above  children. 
And  let  him  dip  his  foot  in  oil  I 
O  Naphtali,  satisfied  with  favour, 
And  full  of  the  blessing  of fehovah^  ^ 

But  it  is  luxury  where  luxury  cannot  soften.  On  these 
broad  heights,  open  to  the  sunshine  and  the  breeze,  life  is 
free  and  exhilarating. 

'  Naphtali  is  as  a  hind  let  loose.^  " 

This  beautiful  figure  fully  expresses  the  feelings  which  are 
bred  by  the  health,  the  spaciousness,  the  high  freedom 
and  glorious  outlook  of  Upper  Galilee. 

To  so  generous  a  land  the  inhabitants,  during  that  part 
of  her  history  which  concerns  us,  responded  with  energy. 
Culture  and  '  Their  soil,'  says  Josephus,  '  is  universally  rich 
Population.  ^^^  fruitful,  and  full  of  the  plantations  of  trees 
of  all  sorts,  insomuch  that  it  invites,  by  its  fruitfulness,  the 
most  slothful  to  take  pains  in  its  cultivation.  Accordingly 
it  is  all  cultivated  by  its  inhabitants,  and  no  part  of  it  lies 

^  Gen.  xlix.  20  ;  Deut.  xxxiii.  23,  24. 

^  Gen.  xlix.  21.  Another  reading,  partly  suggested  by  the  LXX.,  is 
adopted  by  Ewald,  Dillmann,  and  others,  Naphtali  is  a  slender  terebinth 
giving  forth  goodly  boughs.  Other  ancient  versions,  however,  support  the 
Massoretic  text ;  and  while,  as  we  have  seen,  the  figure  of  a  tree  is  not 
inapplicable  to  the  mountains  of  Naphtali,  that  of  a  slender  tree  is  quite 
absurd.  The  ordinary  reading  is,  as  shown  above,  beautifully  suited  to  a 
people  in  the  position  of  Naphtali. 


Galilee  421 

idle.'  ^  The  villages  were  frequent,  there  were  many  forti- 
fied towns,  and  the  population  was  very  numerous.  We 
may  not  accept  all  that  Josephus  reports  in  these  respects 
— he  reckons  a  population  of  nearly  three  millions — but 
there  are  good  reasons  for  the  possibility  of  his  high 
figures  ;  ^  and  in  any  case  the  province  was  very  thickly 
peopled.  Save  in  the  recorded  hours  of  our  Lord's  praying, 
the  history  of  Galilee  has  no  intervals  of  silence  and  lone- 
liness ;  the  noise  of  a  close  and  busy  life  is  always  audible  ; 
and  to  every  crisis  in  the  Gospels  and  in  Josephus  we  see 
crowds  immediately  swarm. 

One  other  national  feature  of  Galilee  must  not  be  passed 
over.     The  massive  limestone  of  her  range  is  broken  here 
and  there  by  volcanic  extrusions — an  extinct     volcanic 
crater,  for  instance,  near  Gischala,^  dykes  of    elements. 
basalt,  and  scatterings  of  lava  upon  the  plateau  above  the 
lake.      Hot   sulphur   springs   flow   by  Tiberias,  and  the 
whole  province  has  been  shaken  by  terrible  earthquakes.'* 
The  nature  of  the  people  was  also  volcanic.     Josephus 
describes  them  as  '  ever  fond  of  innovations,  and  by  nature 
disposed  to  changes,  and   delighting  in   sedi-    -pj^g  Galilean 
tions,'  ^     They  had  an  ill  name  for  quarrelling,   temper. 
From  among  them  came  the  chief  zealots  and  wildest 
fanatics  of  the  Roman  wars.^    We  remember  two  Galileans 


^  iii.  Wars,  iii.  2. 

-  See  those  given  by  Dr.  Selah  Merrill  in  his  valuable  monograph  on 
Galilee  in  the  Time  of  Christ.  '  Bypaths  of  Bible  Knowledge '  Series, 
London,  1891.  '  Sahel-el-Jish. 

•*  The  most  recent  was  that  in  1837,  which  overthrew  the  walls  of  Tiberias, 
and  killed  so  large  a  number  of  the  population  of  Safed  and  other  towns. 

^  Life,  xvii.  ;  xvii.  ^ntt.  x.  5  ;  xx.  id.  vi.  i  ;  i.  IVars,  xvi.  5  ;  ii.  id.  xvii.  8  ; 
Tacitus,  Ann.  xii.  54. 

®  Judas,  the  Galilean  from  Gamala,  in  Jaulan,  A.D.  6  (xviii.  Anil.  i.  i  ;  ii. 
IVars,  viii.  i).     His  sons,  James  and  Simon,  were  executed  by  Tiberius  Alex- 


42  2    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

who  wished  to  call  down  fire  from  heaven  on  those  who 
were  only  discourteous  to  them.^  Yet  this  inner  fire  is 
an  essential  of  manhood.  It  burns  the  meanness  out  of 
men,  and  can  flash  forth  in  great  passions  for  righteous- 
ness. From  first  to  last,  the  Galileans  were  a  chivalrous 
and  a  gallant  race. 

''  Zebulun  was  a  people  jeopardifig  their  life  to  the  death, 
And  Naphtali  o?t  the  high  places  of  the  field.'  ^ 

With  the  same  desperate  zeal,  their  sons  attempted  the 
forlorn  hope  of  breaking  the  Roman  power.  *  The  country,' 
says  Josephus  proudly,  '  hath  never  been  destitute  of  men 
of  courage.'  ^  Their  fidelity,  often  unreasoning  and  ill- 
tempered,  was  always  sincere.  '  The  Galileans,'  according 
to  the  Talmud,  'were  more  anxious  for  honour  than  for 
money  ;  the  contrary  was  true  of  Judaea.'  ^  For  this  cause 
also  our  Lord  chose  His  friends  from  the  people  ;  and  it 
was  not  a  Galilean  who  betrayed  Him. 

When  we  turn  from  the  physical  characteristics  of  this 
province  of  the  subterranean  fires  and  waters  to  her  poli- 
tical geography,  we  find  influences  as  bold  and 

Political 

Geography    inspiring  as   those  we  have  noted.     We  may 

of  Galilee.  ,  .    .        ,  •    i  i  11 

select  three  as  the  chief — the  neighbourhood 
of  classic  scenes  of  Hebrew  history ;  the  great  world- 
roads  which  crossed  Galilee;  the  surrounding  heathen 
civilisations. 

ander  (xx.  Antt.  v.  2) ;  his  grandson,  Manahem,  was  prominent  in  the  revolt  of 
66  (ii.  Wars,  xvii.  8,  9),  and  a  descendant,  Eleazar,  was  captain  of  the  Sicarii, 
and  so  led  the  defence  of  Masada  in  73  (ii.  Wars,  xvii.  9;  vii.  ib,  viii.  i). 
Cf.  Schiirer,  Hist.  Div.  i.  vol.  i.  p.  81,  n.  129.  John  of  Gischala,  a  very 
passionate  patriot  (Josephus,  Life,  x.,  xiii.,  etc.  ;  ii.  Wars,  xxi.  i,  2,  etc.). 
Cf.  the  Galileans,  whose  blood  Pilate  had  iningled  with  their  sacrifices  (Luke 
xiii.  i). 

^  Luke  ix.  54.     Cf.  Jos.  xx.  Antt.  vi.  i.  -  Judges  v.  18. 

*  iii.  Wars,  iii.  2.  *  Quoted  by  Neubauer,  Geog.  du  Talm.  iSt. 


Galilee  423 

I.  It  is  often  taken  for  granted  that  the  Gahlec  of  our 
Lord's  day  was  a  new  land  with  an  illegitimate  people — 
without  history,  without  traditions,  without  j  Galilee— 
prophetic  succession.  The  notion  is  inspired  ^^^'^  Land, 
by  such  proverbs  as,  ScarcJi  and  sec,  for  ojtt  of  Galilee 
Cometh  no  propJict.  Can  any  good  come  out  of  Nazareth  ? 
But  these  utterances  were  due  to  the  spitfire  pride  of 
Judaea,  that  had  contempt  for  the  coarse  dialect  of  the 
Galileans,^  and  for  their  intercourse  with  the  heathen. 
The  province,  it  is  true,  had  been  under  the  Law  for  only 
a  little  more  than  a  century.-  Her  customs  and  laws, 
even  on  such  important  matters  as  marriage  and  inter- 
course with  the  heathen,  her  coins  and  weights,  her  dialect, 
were  all  sufficiently  different  from  those  of  Judaea  to  excite 
popular  sentiment  in  the  latter,  and  provide  the  scribes 
with  some  quotable  reasons  for  their  hostility.  Do  we 
desire  a  modern  analogy  for  the  difference  between  Judsea 
and  Galilee  in  the  time  of  our  Lord,  we  shall  find  one  in 
the  differences  between  England  and  Scotland  soon  after 
the  Union.  But  then  Galilee  had  as  much  reason  to 
resent  the  scorn  of  Judaea  as  Scotland  the  haughty  toler- 
ance of  England.  Behind  the  Exile,  Galilee  had  tradi- 
tions, a  prophetic  succession,  and  a  history  almost  as 
splendid  as  Judah's  own.  She  was  not  out  of  the  way 
of  the  great  scenes  of  famous  days.  Carmel,  Kishon, 
Megiddo,  Jezreel,  Gilboa,  Shunem,  Tabor,  Gilead,  Bashan, 
the  waters  of  Merom,  Hazor  and  Kadesh,  were  all  within 
touch  or  sight.  She  shared  with  Judaea  even  the  exploits 
of  the  Maccabees.  By  Gennesaret  was  Jonathan's  march, 
by  Merom  the  scene  of  his  heroic  rally,  when  his  forces 
were  in  flight,  and  of  his  great  victory  ;  on  the  other  side, 

^  The  Galileans  confounded  tlie  gutturals.  -  See  p.  414. 


424    TJie  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Laud 

at  Ptolemais,  was  his  treacherous  capture,  the  beginning 
of  his  martyrdom.^  Gahlee,  therefore,  Hved  as  openly  as 
Judaea  in  face  of  the  glories  of  their  people.  Her  latent 
fires  had  everywhere  visible  provocation.  The  foot  of  the 
invader  could  tread  no  league  of  her  soil  without  starting 
the  voices  of  fathers  who  had  laboured  and  fought  for  her 
— without  rewaking  promises  which  the  greatest  prophets 
had  lavished  upon  her  future.  As  in  the  former  time  Jie 
brought  into  contempt  the  land  of  Zebidun,  and  the  land  of 
Naphtali,  so  in  the  latter  time  hath  he  made  them  glorious, 
the  way  of  the  sea,  across  fordan,  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles. 
The  people  which  walked  in  darkness  have  seen  a  great 
light;  dwellers  in  the  land  of  darkness,  on  them  hath  the 
light  shined. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enlarge  upon  the  preparation 
which  all  this  must  have  effected  for  the  ministry  of  our 
Lord.  That  the  Messianic  tempers  were  stronger  in 
Galilean  than  in  any  other  Jewish  hearts  is  most  cer- 
tain.^ While  Judaea's  religion  had  for  its  characteristic 
zeal  for  the  law,  Galilee's  was  distinguished  by  the  nobler, 
the  more  potential  passion  of  hope.  Therefore  it  was  to 
Galilee  that  Jesus  came  preaching  that  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  is  at  hand;  it  was  the  Galilean  patriotism  which 
He  chose  to  refine  to  diviner  issues. 

But  we  usually  overlook  that  Galilee  was  vindicated  also 

in  the  affections  of  the  Jews  themselves.     It  is  one  of  the 

The  Jewish    ^lost  singular  revolutions,  even  in  Jewish  his- 

Renascence.   x^Q^y ,  that  the  province,  which  through  so  many 

centuries  Judaea  had  contemned  as  profane  and  heretical, 

^  I  Mace.  ix. ,  xi. ,  xii. 

2  See  p.  421  f.,  on  the  number  of  Galilean  leaders  in  the  revolt  against 
Rome, 


Galilee  425 

should  succeed  Judaea  as  the  sanctuary  of  the  race  and 
the  home  of  their  theological  schools — that  to-day  Galilee 
should  have  as  many  holy  places  as  Judaea,  and  Safed  and 
Tiberias  be  reverenced  along  with  Hebron  and  Jerusalem. 
The  transference  can  be  traced  geographically,  by  the 
movements  of  the  Sanhedrim.  After  the  defeat  of  the  last 
Jewish  revolt  at  Bettir  (134  A.D.),  the  Sanhedrim  migrated 
north  from  Jabneh  in  the  Philistine  plain  to  Oshah  just 
north  of  Carmel,  and  thence  gradually  eastward  across 
Lower  Galilee  to  Shaphram,  to  Beth  She'arim,  to  Sep- 
phoris — nay,  to  the  unclean  and  cursed  Tiberias  itself. 
Here  the  last  Sanhedrim  sat,  and  the  Mishna  was  edited. 
You  see  the  tomb  of  Maimonides  in  Tiberias,  and  most  of 
the  towns  of  Lower  and  some  of  those  of  Upper  Galilee 
have  a  name  as  the  scenes  of  the  residence  or  of  the 
martyrdom  of  famous  Rabbis.  It  is  curious  to  observe  in 
the  Talmuds  the  reflection  of  a  state  of  society  in  Galilee 
of  the  third  century  more  strict  in  many  respects  than 
that  of  Judsea.  But,  in  the  history  of  Israel,  the  last  is 
ever  becoming  the  first.^ 

II.  The  next  great  features  of  Galilee  are  her  Roads. 
This  garden  of  the  Lord  is  crossed  by  many  of  the  world's 
most  famous  highways.  We  saw  that  Judaea  jj  -j-j^^  ^^^^^ 
was  on  the  road  to  nowhere;  Galilee  is  ofGaiUee. 
covered  with  roads  to  everywhere — roads  from  the  har- 
bours of  the  Phoenician  coast  to  Samaria,  Gilead,  Hauran 

^  For  the  above  details,  see  Neubauer,  Cd'i?^.  a'w  7a/w?^(/,  177-233.  A  most 
valuable  picture  of  Galilee,  but  it  draws  too  much  on  the  Talmud's  picture  of 
Galilee  for  illustration  of  the  very  different  state  of  affairs  in  our  Lord's  time. 
The  towns  mentioned  above  will  all  be  found  on  the  map  of  i\\z  F.E.F. 
Osha  is  Kurbet  Husheh,  Shaphram  Shefa  'Amr,  only  two  miles  away.  Beth 
She'arim  has  not  been  identified. 


426    The  Historical  Geogi'aphy  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  Damascus  ;  roads  from  Sharon  to  the  valley  of 
the  Jordan ;  roads  from  the  sea  to  the  desert  ;  roads 
from  Egypt  to  Assyria.  They  were  not  confined  to 
Esdraelon  and  the  Jordan  Valley.  They  ran  over  Lower 
Galilee  by  its  long  parallel  valleys,  and  even  crossed  the 
high  plateau  of  Upper  Galilee  on  the  shortest  direction 
from  Tyre  and  Sidon  to  Damascus.  A  review  of  these 
highways  will  immensely  enhance  our  appreciation  of 
Galilee's  history.  They  can  be  traced  by  the  current 
lines  of  traffic,  by  the  great  khans  or  caravanserais  which 
still  exist  in  use  or  in  ruin,  and  by  the  remains  of  Roman 
pavements. 

From  the  earliest  times  to  the  present  a  great  thorough- 
fare has  connected  Damascus  with  the  sea.     Its  direction 
has  varied  from  age  to  age  according  to  poli- 

Their  routes.       ...  ,^,  /-    t-. 

tical  circumstances.  Ihe  port  of  Damascus 
was  sometimes  Tripoli,  sometimes  Beyrout,  sometimes 
Sidon  or  Tyre,  sometimes  Acca  with  Haifa.  But  between 
Damascus  and  the  three  first  of  these  rises  the  double 
range  of  Lebanon  ;  the  roads  have  twice  over  to  climb 
many  thousands  of  feet.^  To  Tyre  again  the  road  must 
first  compass  Hermon  to  Banias  or  Hasbeya,  and  then 
cross  the  heights  of  Naphtali.^  Acca  alone  is  the  natural 
port  for  Damascus,  and  the  nearest  ways  to  Acca  run 
through  Lower  Galilee.     Leaving  Damascus,  the  highway 

^  The  road  from  Damascus  to  Tripoli  went  via  Baalbek  and  B'sherreh  ;  that 
to  Beyrout  by  the  present  diligence  route ;  that  to  Sidon  went  from  Rama, 
past  the  present  Kula'at  esh  Shukif,  the  Crusading  castle  of  Belfort. 

2  After  Banias  the  road  traverses  the  Jordan  Valley  by  Tell  el  Kady, 
passes  the  Hasbany  branch  by  an  old  bridge  ;  thence  over  the  first  watershed 
to  the  north  of  Rubb  Thelathin,  through  the  valley  near  Abrikha,  where 
there  are  remains  of  pavement,  and  over  the  second  watershed  by  Burj 
Alawei  to  Tyre.  It  is  commanded  by  two  Crusading  castles — Hunin,  at  a 
distance  of  two  miles,  Tibnin  at  more. 


Galilee  427 

kept  to  the  south  of  Hcrmon  upon  the  level  region  now 
called  Jedur/  and  crossed  the  Jordan  midway  between  the 
Lakes  of  Merom  and  Gennesaret  at  the  present  Bridge  of 
the  Daughters  of  Jacob.  Thence  it  climbed  to  the  Khan, 
now  called  '  of  the  Pit  of  Joseph,'  and  divided.  One 
branch  held  west  past  Safed,  by  the  line  of  valley  between 
Lower  and  Upper  Galilee,  and  came  down  by  the  present 
Wady  Waziyeh  upon  Acca.-  Another  branch  went  south 
to  the  Lake  of  Gennesaret  at  Khan  Minyeh — one  of  the 
possible  sites  for  Capernaum — and  there  forked  again. 
One  prong  bent  up  the  Plain  of  Gennesaret  and  the 
present  Wady  Rubadiyeh  to  rejoin  the  direct  western 
branch  at  Rameh.  Another  left  the  Plain  of  Gennesaret 
up  the  famous  Wady  el  Hamam  by  Arbela^  to  the  plateau 
above  Tiberias,  and  thence  passing  the  great  Khan  or 
market,  now  called  et  Tujjar, 'of  the  merchants,'  defiled 
between  Tabor  and  the  Nazareth  hills  upon  Esdraelon, 
which  it  crossed  to  Megiddo,  on  the  way  to  Sharon,  to 
Philistia,  to  Egypt.  A  third  branch  from  Khan  Minyeh 
continued  due  south  by  the  Lake  and  Tiberias  to  Beth- 
shan,  from  which  the  traveller  might  either  ascend 
Esdraelon  and  rejoin  the  straight  route  to  Egypt,  or  go 
up  through  Samaria  to  Jerusalem,  or  down  Jordan  to 
Jericho.  But  at  Bethshan,  or  a  little  to  the  north  of 
it,  there  came  across  Jordan  another  great  road  from 
Damascus.  It  had  traversed  the  level  Hauran,  and  come 
down  into  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  by  Aphek  *  or  by 
Gamala,  and  it  went  over  to  the  Mediterranean  either  by 
Bethshan  and  Esdraelon  or  up  the  Wady  Fejjas  to  the 

•^  By  S'asa  and  el  Kuneitra. 

-  Schumacher,  P.E.F.Q.,  1889,  pp.  79,  So. 

■*  Modern  Irbid.     See  i  Mace,  ix.,  Hosea  x.  14. 

■*  The  present  Fik,  opposite  Tiberias. 


428    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

plateau  above  the  Lake,  and  thence  by  the  cross  valley 
past  Cana  and  Sepphoris  to  Acca.  This  was  also  the  way 
over  Galilee  from  Gilead  and  the  Decapolis.^ 

The  Great  West  Road  from  Damascus  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean, in  one  or  other  of  its  branches,  was  the  famous 
The  Way  of  ^^J  ^f  ^^^^  ^^^-  ^^  ^'^^Y  have  been  so  called 
the  Sea.  }^y  jgaiali  when  he  heard  along  it  the  grievous 
march  of  the  Assyrian  armies,  by  zuay  of  the  sea,  over 
Jordan,  Galilee  of  the  nations.  But  we  cannot  be  certain, 
for  the  phrase  is  ambiguous  in  both  its  terms  ;  we  do  not 
know  whether  the  sea  is  Gennesaret  or  the  Mediterranean, 
and  whether  the  way  be  really  a  road  or  only  a  direction. 
If  the  two  latter  alternatives  be  taken,  the  phrase  means 
no  more  than  westward — a  rendering  suitable  to  the 
context.^     However    this  be,    later    generations    applied 

^  In  Roman  times  there  were  two  bridges,  one  just  below  the  lake,  the 
other  the  present  Jisr  el-Mujamia.  The  route — Damascus,  Nawa,  Beth- 
shan,  and  Esdraelon — is  the  line  of  the  new  Damascus  Haifa  railway.  It 
crosses  the  Jordan  just  below  the  Lake.      See  Maps  i.  and  vi. 

2  Isa.  viii.  22  (Eng.  version  ix.  i)  D'H  TI"n    The   Way  of  the  Sea.     (i) 

The  usual  interpretation  is  that  Gennesaret  is  meant  (n"l33~D'',  Num.  xxxiv. 
11),  and  the  way  of  the  sea,   along  with  the   following  words  JT^Hn    12^, 

overJorda7i,  is  taken  to  mean  a  district  to  the  east  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee. 
But  the  tribes  mentioned — Zebulun  and  Naphtali — had  their  territories  to  the 
west  of  Jordan  ;  and  JTl*n  "l3y  is  applicable  to  either  side  of  the  river.     The 

march  of  the  Assyrians,  which  is  here  described,  swept  westward.  But  (2) 
does  way  mean  an  actual  highway!  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  it  means  no 
more  than  direction,  and  that  we  ought  to  take  DTI,  or  sea,  in  its  general 

sense  of  the  West,  so  that  the  phrase  in  analogy  to  HJIDV  T]"l"n  (Ezek.  viii.  5, 
xxi.  2,  xl.  6)  would  mean  simply  westzvard.  In  that  case  it  would  be  equiva- 
lent to  the  phrase  n?2^  n"}!*!?  "^^J^^  (Josh.  v.  i,  etc.)  across  the  Jordan 
westwards.  It  is  true,  however,  that  in  these  last  cases  the  particle  of  direc- 
tion  towards  is  used  ;  whereas  in  our  verse  sea  is  used  in  the  genitive  case 
with  the  definite  article,  a  construction  that  would  point  to  its  being  the  title 
of  a  real  road  rather  than  the  description  of  a  direction.  Yet  not  necessarily 
so,  for  D*n  (with  the  article)  in  the  sense  of  the  west  also  occurs.  Josh.  xix.  11, 


Galilee  429 

Isaiah's  words  to  the  great  caravan  route  between 
Damascus  and  the  sea,  and  throughout  the  Middle  Ages 
it  was  known  as  the  '  Via  Maris.'  The  Romans  paved  it, 
and  took  taxes  from  its  traffic  ;  at  one  of  its  tolls,  in 
Capernaum,  Matthew  sat  at  the  receipt  of  custom}  It  was 
then  the  great  route  of  trade  with  the  Far  East,  and 
it  continued  to  be  so.  From  the  eleventh  to  the  four- 
teenth centuries  the  products  of  India  coming  from  the 
Persian  Gulf  by  Baghdad  and  Damascus  were  carried  along 
it  to  the  factories  of  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Marseilles  in  Acca 
and  Tyre,  and  thence  distributed  through  Europe.^  The 
commerce  of  Damascus  has  at  present  an  easier  way  to 
Beyrout  by  the  splendid  Alpine  road  which  the  French 
engineers  built  across  the  Lebanons  ;  but  the  Via  Maris  is 
still  used  for  the  considerable  exports  on  camel-back  of 
grain  from  Hauran.^ 

The  Great  South  Road,  the  road  for  Egypt,  which 
diverged  from  the  Via  Maris  at  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  was 
used  equally  for  traffic  and  for  war  from  the  r^^^  q^.^^^ 
days  of  the  patriarchs  down  to  our  own.  One  ^°"'^  ^°^'*' 
afternoon  in  1891,  while  we  were  resting  in  the  dale  at  the 
foot  of  Tabor,  there  passed  three  great  droves  of  unladen 
camels.  We  asked  the  drivers,  *  Where  from  ? '  '  Damas- 
cus.' 'And  where  are  you  going?'  'Jaffa  and  Gaza; 
but,  if  we  do  not  get  the  camels  sold  there,  we  shall  drive 

Ezek.  xlii.  19.  But  if  a  definite  sea  be  meant,  then  it  is  more  probable  that 
the  Mediterranean — the  goal  of  the  road — would  give  its  name  to  the  latter, 
than  that  the  Lake  of  Gennesaret,  along  which  only  one  of  the  road's 
branches  passed,  would  do  so.  ^  Mark  ii.  14. 

-  Key,  Les  Colonies  Franqties  de  Syrie  an  xii'""  et  xiii'""  stacks, 
ch.  iii. ,  Les  Communes  Commercialese  and  ch.  ix.  La  Commerce.  Ileyd, 
Die  Italienischen  Ha7idels-colonien  in  Paldstina.     See  above,  p.  18. 

^  In  harvest  the  passage  of  camels  across  the  Jisr-Benat-Jakoob  never 
ceases. 


430    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

them  down  to  Egypt.'  How  ancient  a  succession  these 
men  were  following  !  From  Abraham's  time,  every  year 
that  war  was  not  afoot,  camels  have  passed  by  this  road 
to  Egypt  Armies  sometimes  marched  along  it,  as,  for 
instance,  the  Syrians  when  Jonathan  Maccabeus  went  out 
against  them  in  the  defiles  by  Arbela  above  Gennesaret.^ 
But  the  open  road  by  Hauran  and  across  the  Jordan 
below  the  Lake  seems  to  have  been  the  more  usual  line 
of  invasion.  So  the  Syrians  came  in  Ahab's  time,^  and 
probably  also  the  Assyrians  when  they  advanced  by 
Damascus. 

The  Great  Road  of  the  East  (as  we  may  call  it)  from 
Acre  across   Lower  Galilee   to   Bethshan,  and  over  the 

The  Great     Jordan  into  Gilead,  was  the  road  for  Arabia. 

East  Road,  ^p  j^  have  come  through  all  ages  the  Midian- 
ites,  the  children  of  the  East.  In  the  Roman  period  it 
connected  the  Asian  frontier  of  the  Empire  with  the 
capital.  Chariots,  military  troops,  companies  of  officials 
and  merchants,  passed  by  this  road,  between  the  Greek 
cities  east  of  Jordan,  and  Ptolemais,  the  port  for  Rome. 

Of  all  things  in  Galilee  it  was  the  sight  of  these  imme- 
morial  roads   which   taught   and    moved  me   most — not 
because  they  were  trodden  by  the  patriarchs, 

These  roads  ^ 

and  the  Para-   and  somc  of  them  must  soon  shake  to  the 

bias  of  Jesus. 

railway  train,  not  because  the  chariots  of  As- 
syria and  Rome  have  both  rolled  along  them — but  because 
it  was  up  and  down  these  roads  that  the  immortal  figures 
of  the  Parables  passed.  By  them  came  the  merchantman 
seeking  goodly  pearls,  the  king  departing  to  receive  his 
kingdom,  the  friend  on  a  journey,  the  householder  arriving 

1  I  Mace.  ix.  2.  So  also  came  some  of  Saladin's  army,  in  1 187,  to  the 
Battle  of  Hattin.  2  j  Kings  xx.,  xxii. 


Galilee  4  3 1 

suddenly  upon  his  servants,  the  prodigal  son  coming  back 
from  the  far-off  country.  The  far-off  country  !  What  a 
meaning  has  this  frequent  phrase  of  Christ's,  when  you 
stand  in  Galilee  by  one  of  her  great  roads — roads  which 
so  easily  carried  willing  feet  from  the  pious  homes  of  Asher 
and  Naphtali  to  the  harlot  cities  of  Phoenicia — roads  which 
were  in  touch  with  Rome  and  with  Babylon. 

III.  Her  roads  carry  us  out  upon  the  surroundings 
of  Galilee.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Judaea  we  have 
seen  great  deserts,  some  of  which  come  up 

11  P     ,  .   .  ,   ,  in.  TheEn- 

almost  to  the  gates  of  the  cities,  and  have  im-  vironment  of 
pressed  their  austerity  and  foreboding  of  judg- 
ment upon  the  feelings  and  the  literature  of  the  people. 
The  very  different  temperament  of  the  Galilean  was 
explained  in  part  by  his  very  different  environment.  The 
desert  is  nowhere  even  visible  from  Galilee.  Instead  of 
it,  the  Galilee  of  our  Lord's  time  had  for  neighbours  the 
half  Greek  land  of  Phoenicia,  with  its  mines  and  manu- 
factures, its  open  ports,  its  traffic  from  the  West ;  the 
fertile  Hauran,^  with  its  frequent  cities,  where  the  Greek 
language  was  spoken,  and  the  pagan  people  worshipped 
their  old  divinities  under  the  names  of  the  Greek  gods  ; 
and  Gilead,  with  the  Decapolis,  ten  cities  (more  or  less)  of 
stately  forums,  amphitheatres,  and  temples.^  We  shall  feel 
the  full  influence  of  all  this  upon  Galilee  when  we  go  down 
to  the  Lake.  Meantime  let  us  remember  that  Galilee  was 
not  surrounded  by  desert  places  haunted  by  demoniacs, 
which  is  all  that  the  few  traces  in  the  Gospels  suggest  to 
our  imagination  ;  but  that  the  background  and  environ- 
ment of  this  stage  of  our  Lord's  ministry  was  thronged  and 
^  The  ancient  Auranitis.     See  ch.  x.\i.\.  -  See  ch.  x.xviii. 


432    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

very  gay — that  it  was  Greek  in  all  that  the  name  can 
bring  up  to  us  of  busy  life,  imposing  art  and  sensuous 
religion.  The  effect  upon  the  Galilean  temperament  is 
obvious. 

These  then  are  the  influences  which  geography  reveals 
bearing  upon  Galilee.  Before  we  go  down  to  the  Lake, 
let  us  focus  them  upon  the  one  town  away  from  the  Lake, 
which  is  of  supreme  interest  to  us — Nazareth.^ 

Nazareth  is  usually  represented  as  a  secluded  and  an 

obscure  village.    Many  writers  on  the  life  of  our  Lord  have 

emphasised   this,   holding   it    proved    by   the 

^^  3,  Z  3.1*6  til 

silence  of  the  Gospels  concerning  His  child- 
hood and  youth.  But  the  value  of  a  vision  of  the  Holy 
Land  is  that  it  fills  the  silences  of  the  Holy  Book,  and 
from  it  we  receive  a  very  different  idea  of  the  early  life  of 
our  Lord  from  the  one  generally  current  among  us.^ 

The  position  of  Nazareth  is  familiar  to  all.  The  village 
lies  on  the  most  southern  of  the  ranges  of  Lower  Galilee, 
and  on  the  edge  of  this  just  above  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon. 

^  On  Nazareth,  see  Guerin's  Galilee  ;  Merrill,  op.  cit.  ;  Conder's  Tent 
Work,  ch.  V.  ;  Schumacher,  Dasjetzige  Nazareth,  Z.D.P.  V.  xiii.  234.  The 
population  is  now  7500.  Some  travellers  have  found  them  turbulent. 
Schumacher  calls  them  pleasant  and  hospitable.  They  form  a  '  Sprachinsel 
in  gewissem  Sinne  ; '  for  while  the  surrounding  towns  either  pronounce  q 
[k)  fully  or  miss  it,  the  Nazareth  people  pronounce  it  as  /^  :  u  they  pronounce 
a,  as  in  Turkish.  There  is  a  want  of  water,  the  well  of  Mary  being  the  only 
well.     There  is  a  market  for  the  neighbourhood. 

^  It  is  a  great  merit  of  Dr.  Merrill's  monograph  on  Galilee,  that  it  has  dis- 
proved this  error  in  detail.  See  also  a  very  striking  passage  on  Galilee  in 
Mr.  Walter  Besant's  Lecture  on  the  Work  of  the  Pal.  Expl.  Fund,  in  The 
City  and  the  Land,  1 14  f.  :  '  Palestine  was  not  an  obscure  country  .  ,  .  He 
who  wandered  among  the  hills  and  valley  of  Galilee  was  never  far  from  some 
great  and  populous  city  .  .  .  It  was  not  as  a  rustic  preaching  to  rustics  that  our 
Lord  went  about  .  .  .  He  went  forth  in  a  part  [of  the  Roman  Empire]  full  of 
Roman  civilisation,  busy  and  populous,  where,  at  every  turn,  He  would  meet 
with  something  to  mark  the  empire  to  which  He  belonged.' 


Galilee  433 

You  cannot  see  from  Nazareth  the  surrounding  country, 
for  Nazareth  rests  in  a  basin  among  hills  ;  but  the  moment 
you  climb  to  the  edge  of  this  basin,  which  is  everywhere 
within  the  limit  of  the  village  boys'  playground,  what  a 
view  you  have  !  Esdraelon  lies  before  you,  with  its  twenty 
battle-fields — the  scenes  of  Barak's  and  of  Gideon's  vic- 
tories, the  scenes  of  Saul's  and  Josiah's  defeats,  the  scenes 
of  the  struggles  for  freedom  in  the  glorious  days  of  the 
Maccabees.  There  is  Naboth's  vineyard  and  the  place  of 
Jehu's  revenge  upon  Jezebel ;  there  Shunem  and  the  house 
of  Elisha  ;  there  Carmel  and  the  place  of  Elijah's  sacrifice. 
To  the  east  the  Valley  of  Jordan,  with  the  long  range  of 
Gilead  ;  to  the  west  the  radiance  of  the  Great  Sea,  with 
the  ships  of  Tarshish  and  the  promise  of  the  Isles.  You 
see  thirty  miles  in  three  directions.  It  is  a  map  of  Old 
Testament  history. 

But  equally  full  and  rich  was  the  present  life  on  which 
the  eyes  of  the  boy  Jesus  looked  out.  Across  Esdraelon, 
opposite  to  Nazareth,  there  emerged  from  ^j^^  boyhood 
the  Samarian  hills  the  road  from  Jerusalem,  ofJesus. 
thronged  annually  with  pilgrims,  and  the  road  from  Egypt 
with  its  merchants  going  up  and  down.  The  Midianite 
caravans  could  be  watched  for  miles  coming  up  from  the 
fords  of  Jordan  ;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  caravans  from 
Damascus  wound  round  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  which 
Nazareth  stands.  Or  if  the  village  boys  climbed  the 
northern  edge  of  their  hollow  home,  there  was  another 
road  within  sight,  where  the  companies  were  still  more 
brilliant — the  highway  between  Acre  and  the  Deca- 
polis,  along  which  legions  marched,  and  princes  swept 
with  their  retinues,  and  all  sorts  of  travellers  from  all 
countries  went  to  and  fro.     The  Roman  ranks,  the  Roman 

2  !•: 


434    '^^^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

eagles,  the  wealth  of  noblemen's  litters  and  equipages 
cannot  have  been  strange  to  the  eyes  of  the  boys  of 
Nazareth,  especially  after  their  twelfth  year,  when  they 
went  up  to  Jerusalem,  or  visited  with  their  fathers  famous 
Rabbis,  who  came  down  from  Jerusalem,  peripatetic  among 
the  provinces.  Nor  can  it  have  been  the  eye  only  which 
was  stirred.  For  all  the  rumour  of  the  Empire  entered 
Palestine  close  to  Nazareth — the  news  from  Rome,  about 
the  Emperor's  health,^  about  the  changing  influence  of  the 
great  statesmen,  about  the  prospects  at  court  of  Herod, 
or  of  the  Jews  ;  about  Caesar's  last  order  concerning  the 
tribute,  or  v/hether  the  policy  of  the  Procurator  would  be 
sustained.  Many  Galilean  families  must  have  had  relatives 
in  Rome ;  Jews  would  come  back  to  this  countryside  to 
tell  of  the  life  of  the  world's  capital.  Moreover,  the 
scandals  of  the  Herods  buzzed  up  and  down  these  roads  ; 
pedlars  carried  them,  and  the  peripatetic  Rabbis  would 
moralise  upon  them.  The  customs,  too,  of  the  neigh- 
bouring Gentiles — their  loose  living,  their  sensuous  wor- 
ship, their  absorption  in  business,^  the  hopelessness  of  the 
inscriptions  on  their  tombs,  multitudes  of  which  were 
readable  (as  some  are  still)  on  the  roads  round  Galilee 
— all  this  would  furnish  endless  talk  in  Nazareth,  both 
among  men  and  boys. 

Here,  then.  He  grew  up  and  suffered  temptation,  Who 
was  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin. 
The  perfection  of  His  purity  and  patience  was  achieved 
not  easily  as  behind  a  wide  fence  which  shut  the  world 
out,  but  amid  rumour  and  scandal  with  every  provocation 
to  unlawful  curiosity  and  premature  ambition.     The  pres- 

^  As  in  the  days  when  Vespasian  was  encamped  in  Galilee.     See  both 
Josephus  and  Tacitus  on  this.  ''■  Matt.  vi.  32. 


Galilee  435 

sure  and  problems  of  the  world  outside  God's  people  must 
have  been  felt  by  the  youth  of  Nazareth  as  by  few  others  ; 
yet  the  scenes  of  prophetic  missions  to  it — Elijali's  and 
Elisha's — were  also  within  sight.^  A  vision  of  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world  was  as  possible  from  this  village 
as  from  the  mount  of  temptation.  But  the  chief  lesson 
which  Nazareth  teaches  to  us  is  the  possibility  of  a  pure 
home  and  a  spotless  youth  in  the  very  face  of  the  evil 
world. 

*  Luke  iv,  25  ff. 


CHAPTER    XXI 


THE    LAKE    OF    GALILEE 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Maps  /.,  ///.  and  VI. 


THE  LAKE  OF  GALILEE 

IN  last  chapter  the  dominant  features  of  Gahlee  were 
shown  to  be   seven.     First,  a  close   dependence   on 
Lebanon.     Second,   an    abundance   of  water, 

The  seven 

which  Lebanon  lavishes  on  her  by  rain,  mists,  features  of 
wells,  and  full-born  streams.  Third,  a  great 
fertility  :  profusion  of  flowers,  corn,  oil  and  wood.  Fourth, 
volcanic  elements  :  extinct  craters,  dykes  of  basalt,  hot 
springs,  liability  to  earthquakes.  Fifth,  great  roads:  high- 
ways of  the  world  cross  Galilee  in  all  directions — from 
the  Levant  to  Damascus  and  the  East,  from  Jerusalem  to 
Antioch,  from  the  Nile  to  the  Euphrates.  Sixth,  in  result 
of  the  fertility  and  of  the  roads,  busy  industries  and  com- 
merce, with  a  crowded  population.  And  seventh,  the 
absence  of  a  neighbouring  desert,  such  as  infects  Judaea 
with  austerity,  but  in  its  place  a  number  of  heathen 
provinces,  pouring  upon  Galilee  the  full  influence  of  their 
Greek  life. 

Now  all  these  seven  features  of  Galilee  in  general  were 
concentrated  upon  her  lake  and  its  coasts.  The  Lake  of 
Galilee  was  the  focus  of  the  whole  province,  -j-j^^  ^ake 
Imagine  that  wealth  of  water,  that  fertility,  the  focus, 
those  nerves  and  veins  of  the  volcano,  those  great  highways, 
that  numerous  population,  that  commerce  and  industry, 
those  strong  Greek  influences — imagine  them  all  crowded 

439 


440   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

into  a  deep  valley,  under  an  almost  tropical  heat,  and 
round  a  great  blue  lake,  and  you  have  before  you  the 
conditions  in  which  Christianity  arose  and  Christ  Himself 
chiefly  laboured. 

We  do  not  realise  that  the  greater  part  of  our  Lord's 
ministry  was  accomplished  at  what  may  be  truly  called  the 
bottom  of  a  trench,  680  feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea.  As 
you  go  down  into  it  by  the  road  which  our  Lord  Himself 
traversed  between  Nazareth  and  Capernaum,  there  come 
up  to  meet  you  some  signals  of  its  wonderful  peculiarity. 
By  two  broad  moors,^  the  grey  limestone  land  falls  from 
the  ranges  of  Lower  Galilee  to  a  line  of  cliffs  overlooking 
The  way  ^^  lake,  and  about  300  feet  above  it.  These 
down.  terraced  moors  are  broken  by  dykes  of  basalt, 

and  strewn  with  lava  and  pumice-stone.  There  are  hardly 
any  trees  upon  them  ;  after  rain  the  shadeless  streams 
soon  die,  and  the  summer  grass  and  bush  crackle  to  tinder. 
The  memories  of  these  moors  match  their  appearance  ;  his- 
tory and  legend  know  them  only  as  the  scenes  of  flight  and 
thirst  and  exhaustion.  Across  their  southern  end  Sisera 
fled  headlong,  and  sought  drink  for  his  parched  throat  in 
the  tent  of  Jael.-  By  the  aspect  of  the  northern  end,  the 
imagination  of  the  early  Church  was  provoked  to  fix  upon 
it  as  the  desert  place  where,  when  the  day  was  far  spent 
and  the  exhausted  multitudes  at  some  distance  from  their 
villages,  our  Lord  brought  forth  a  miracle  to  feed  them.^ 
And  there,  in  Crusading  times,  the  courage  of  Christendom 
was  scorched  to  the  heart,  so  as  never  to  rally  in  all  the 
East  again.    Where  the  heights  of  Hattin   offer  neither 

^  Now  the  plateau  of  Sha'ara  and  the  Sahel  el-Ahma. 
2  See  p.  395. 

•^  Beyond  the  sterile   aspect  of  the  place,  there  is  nothing  to  justify  this 
tradition. 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  44  1 

shade  nor  springs,  the  Crusaders,  tempted,  it  is  said,  by 
some  treachery,  came  forth  to  meet  Saladin,  A  hot  July 
night  without  water  was  followed  by  a  burning 

-      ,  .    ,      ,  The  Battle 

day,^  to  add  to  the  horrors  of  which  the  enemy  of  Hattin— 
set  fire  to  the  scrub.  The  smoke  swept  the  '' 
fevered  Christians  into  a  panic  ;  knights  choked  in  their 
hot  armour  ;  the  blinded  foot-soldiers,  breaking  their  ranks 
and  dropping  their  weapons,  were  ridden  down  in  mobs  by 
the  Moslem  cavalry  ;  and  though  here  and  there  groups  of 
brave  men  fought  sun  and  fire  and  sword  far  on  into  the 
terrible  afternoon,  the  defeat  was  utter.  A  militant  and 
truculent  Christianity,  as  false  as  the  relics  of  the  'True 
Cross'  round  which  it  was  rallied,  met  its  judicial  end 
within  view  of  the  scenes  where  Christ  proclaimed  the 
Gospel  of  Peace,  and  went  about  doing  good. 

Through  such  memories,  enforcing  the  effect  of  the  arid 
landscape,  you  descend  from  the  hills  of  Galilee  to  her 
lake.        You    feel    you   are    passing  from   the 

,  .  ^         ,  „  ,         Atmosphere 

climate  and  scenerj^ot  bouthern  Jiurope  to  the   of  the  Lake 

,  r    1       1  •  "-r^i         Basin. 

climate  and  scenery  01  the  barer  tropics.  Ihe 
sea-winds,  which  freshen  all  Galilee  and  high  Hauran 
beyond,  blow  over  this  basin,  and  the  sun  beats  into  it 
with  unmitigated  ardour.-  The  atmosphere,  for  the  most 
part,  hangs  still  and  heavy,  but  the  cold  currents,  as  the}' 
pass  from  the  west,  are  sucked  down  in  vortices  of  air,  or 

^  5th  July  1 187.  The  battle  is  described  from  the  Crusading  side  by 
Bernard  the  Treasurer ;  from  the  Saracen  by  Boha-ed-Din  {Life  of  Saladin, 
ch.  XXXV.).  Robinson,  B.R.  iii.  245-249,  gives  an  admirable  summary  of 
these  accounts. 

"  Detailed  statistics  of  the  meteorology  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  are  unknown 
to  me.  For  scattered  notes  of  the  temperature,  winds  and  storms,  see 
Robinson,  B.R.  iii.;  Merrill,  ^aj^  of  Jordan;  Frei,  Z.D.P.V.  ix.  lOO  f; 
Tristram's  various  writings;  Macgregor,  Rob  Roy  on  the  Jordan,  etc.  .Sec 
below,  p.  449  f. 


442    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

by  the  narrow  gorges  that  break  upon  the  lake.  Then 
arise  those  sudden  storms  for  which  the  region  is  noto- 
rious— 

'  The  wind,  the  tempest  roaring  high, 
The  tumult  of  a  tropic  sky.' 

In  such  conditions  a  large  population  and  all  industry 
would  have  been  as  impossible  as  at  the  other  end  of  the 
The  functions  Jordan,  but  for  two  redeeming  features — the 
of  the  Lake.  j^j^g  itself  and  the  wealth  of  fountains  and 
streams  which  feed  it  from  Lebanon.  In  that  torrid  basin, 
approached  through  such  sterile  surroundings,  the  lake 
feeds  every  sense  of  the  body  with  life.  Sweet  water,^ 
full  of  fish,^  a  surface  of  sparkling  blue,  tempting  down 
breezes  from  above,  bringing  forth  breezes  of  her  own,  the 
Lake  of  Galilee  is  at  once  food,  drink  and  air,  a  rest  to  the 
eye,  coolness  in  the  heat,  an  escape  from  the  crowd,^  and  a 
facility  of  travel  very  welcome  in  so  exhausting  a  climate. 
Even  those  who  do  not  share  her  memories  of  Christ  feel 
enthusiasm  for  her.  The  Rabbis  said:  'Jehovah  hath 
created  seven  seas,  but  the  Sea  of  Gennesaret  is  His 
delight.' 

The  lake  lies,  in  shape,  like  a  harp,  with  the  bulge  to 
the  north-west.  It  is  nearly  thirteen  miles  long,^  and  its 
greatest  breadth  is  eight.^     The  wider  northern  end  is  the 

^  Some  travellers  have  found  in  the  water  'a  slight  brackish  taste'  (so 
Robinson's  companions,  but  not  Robinson  himself,  B.R.  iii.  261).  But  this 
approaches  unpleasantness  only  in  the  shallow  waters  near  the  larger  saline 
springs.  Elsewhere  the  words  of  Josephus,  iii.  Wars,  x.  7,  are  not  exag- 
gerated, 7\u/ceta.  re  6'/^ws  eVri  koX  iroTijxwTdTTj. 

^  See  p.  462.  ^  Mark  vi.  32,  etc. 

*  On  the  large  Survey  Map,  from  the  influx  of  Jordan  to  the  village  of 
Semakh. 

*  The  greatest  depth  is  250  metres  at  the  northern  end.  Lortet,  Dragages 
exeaitees  dans  le  Lac  de  Tiberiade  ett  Mai,  18S0;  Comptes  Rendus  Hebdom. 
des  seances  de  I'Academie  des  Sciences,  Tome  xci.,  Paris,  1880,  pp.  500-502. 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  443 

more    open.      The   Jordan,  escaped    from  a  long  gorge, 

enters  quietly  through  a  delta  of  his  own  deposits.     To 

the  west  of  this  delta  is  thorny,  thistly  moor- 

,        ,       ,       .  ,  ,  ,     .    ,  ,  .   ,      The  sliape 

land,  slopmg    northwards   to  a  height    which    of  the  Lake 

leaves  over  it  only  Hermon  visible,  though  the 
basin  of  Merom  lies  between.  North-west  this  moorland 
steepens,  rising  to  the  bulk  of  the  hills  about  Safed,  and 
then,  as  the  coast  of  the  lake  trends  more  rapidly  south- 
wards, it  drops  upon  the  level  Ghuweir — or  '  little  Ghor ' — 
almost  certainly  the  land  of  Gennesaret,  which  is  four  miles 
broad.^  South  of  the  Ghuweir  the  hills  close  in  upon  the 
lake,  with  a  valley  breaking  through  them  from  the  plateau 
above.  South  of  this  valley  they  leave  but  a  ribbon  of 
coast,  along  part  of  which  Tiberias  lies,  commanded  by  its 
black  castle.  In  contrast  to  the  green  open  slopes  of  the 
north,  these  dark,  imprisoning  cliffs,  with  their  black  debris, 

Lortet  thinks  that  the  Lake  of  Galilee  was  once  connected  with  the  Mediter- 
ranean. But  this  has  been  disproved  by  Hull.  See  p.  470.  On  the  peculiar 
fishes  of  the  lake,  see  Tristram,  and  Merrill,  East  of  ihe  Jordan,  p.  441. 

^  Gennesaret  TewTjaapir,  the  Land  of  Gennesaret,  Matt.  xiv.  34 ;  Mark 
vi.  53,  Lake  of  Gennesaret,  Luke  v.  i.  The  earliest  use  of  the  name  is  in 
I  Mace.  xi.  67,  T6  ijdup  Vevv-qcap  (in  the  same  verse,  for  Nao-wp  read  'Acr(i}p  = 
Hazor,  cf.  Josephus,  xiii.  A?tii.  v.  7).  Josephus  gives  Tewrjadp,  T.  \ifxvr],  or 
ijdwp  and  17  TeupyjaaplTis.  The  later  Hebrew  (Targums  and  Talmud)  give 
"1D''JJ!  "ID13J,  and  "IDIJ^J.  The  Targums  identify  the  name  with  the  Chin- 
nercth  of  the  Old  Testament  (m33>  Deut.  iii.  17;  n"l33.  Josh.  xix.  35; 
ni"133,  Josh.  xi.  2 ;  n'"l33-?3>  i  Kings  xv.  20),  which  is  applied  both  to  the 
lake  and  a  town  on  the  lake,  while  in  the  last  passage  it  perhaps  covers  the 
whole  of  the  northern  Jordan  Valley.  Scholars  have  accepted  this  identi- 
fication (Dillmann  on  Josh.  xix.  35;  the  P.E.F.  Map,  Ed.  1891,  etc.),  but 
it  is  improbable.  The  LXX.  transliterate  n"133  by  xftp^^  and  x^^^P^^- 
Even  this  can  scarcely  have  been  Tewrja-ap,  1D''33,  or  IDIJ^J-  The  latter 
form  points  rather  to  a  compound  of  N^J  or  ]i-  Chinnereth  has  been  derived 
from  "11J3,  '  harp,'  as  if  through  the  shape  of  the  lake.  Talm.  Bab.  Meg.  6a  : 
'Chinnereth,  i.e.  Genesar,  and  wherefore  is  it  called  Chinnereth?  Because 
its  fruit  is  sweet  like  the  artichoke,  N"I30D  '  (not  as  Neub.,  Geo£:  du  Talm. 
215,  'sweet  as  voice  of  a  harp'). 


444    '^^^^  Histo7'ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

impose  upon  this  part  of  the  coast  a  sombre  and  sinister 
aspect,  not  unsuited  for  its  association  with  the  name  of 
the  gloomy  tyrant,  that,  by  a  strange  irony  of  fate,  has 
been  stamped  on  a  landscape  from  which  the  name  of 
Jesus  has  altogether  vanished,^  As  the  south  end  of  the 
lake  approaches,  the  ribbon  of  coast  widens,  and  the  Jordan 
cuts  through  it,  striking  at  first  due  west,  and  then  south 
by  the  foot  of  the  hills.  Four  miles  broad,  the  Jordan 
Valley  leaves  a  wide  prospect  from  the  lake  southward, 
that  is  closed  only  by  the  cliffs  of  the  gorge  to  which  it 
narrows  twenty  miles  away.  From  the  east  the  Yarmuk 
Valley  breaks  in  just  below  the  lake,  distending  the  Ghor 
to  the  dimensions  of  a  great  plain  ;  and  to  the  south  of 
the  Yarmuk  rise  the  heights  of  Gadara,  commanding  this 
plain,  and  looking  up  the  lake  to  Tiberias  and  the  north 
end.  From  the  Yarmuk  northwards  up  all  the  eastern 
side  of  the  lake  runs  a  wall  of  hills,  the  edge  of  the  plateau 
of  Jaulan  ^  or  Gaulanitis.  This  is  a  limestone  plateau,  but 
topped  by  a  vast  layer  of  basalt.  You  see  the  curious 
formation  as  you  ascend  the  gorges  which  lead  upwards 
from  the  lake,  for  first  you  pass  the  dirty  white  lime  strata, 
and  then  the  hard  black  rocks  of  the  volcanic  deposit. 
Some  of  the  gorges — like  that  of  Fik,  opposite  Tiberias, 
where  Hippos  stood — are  open  and  gradual  enough  to 
have  been  easily  used  as  high-roads  in  all  ages  ;  but  others 
farther  north  are  wild  and  impassable.^     The  wall  which 

^  Lamartine  {Pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  Enjj.  Ed.  i.  269)  speaks  of 
'avalanches  of  black  stones,' the  'black,  naked  hill,'  'the  sombre  and  funereal 
character  of  the  landscape  about  Tiberias.' 

^  The  Hebrew  j^i;;,  or  Golan,  is  in  classic  Arabic  pronounced  Gaulan,  but 

with  the  natives  of  the  district  it  has  shortened  to  the  same  first  syllable  as 
in  Hebrew,   though,  of  course,  with  soft  g — go,  or  jo.     See   Schumacher's 
The  Jaulan. 
^  Like  the  Wady  Jeramaya  described  in  Schumacher's  Thcjanla>i,  253. 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  445 

the  plateau  presents  to  the  lake  is  higher  and  more 
constant  than  the  hills  down  the  western  side,  but  it  docs 
not  come  so  close  to  the  beach.  Except  at  Khcrsa,  the 
eastern  coast  is  about  half  a  mile  broad,  well  watered  and 
fertile. 

The  view  which  the  whole  basin  presents  has  been 
likened  to  one  of  our  Scottish  lochs.  This  would  need  to 
be  one  of  the  least  wooded.  Few  lochs  in  xhe  aspect 
Scotland  have  surroundings  so  stripped  of  trees  ^o-'^^x- 
as  those  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  are  to-day.  Except  for 
some  palms  lingering  in  Genncsaret,  a  scattering  of  thorn 
bushes  all  round  the  coast,  brakes  of  oleander  on  the 
eastern  shores,  and  small  oaks  up  the  gorges  to  the  Jaulan 
plateau,  trees  are  not  to  be  seen.  The  mountain  edges  are 
bare,  and  so  are  the  grey  slopes  to  the  north,  lifted  towards 
Hermon  as  a  Scottish  moor  to  a  snowy  Ben.  Only  one 
town  is  visible,  Tiberias,  now  a  poor  fevered  place  of  less 
than  5000  inhabitants  ;  besides  this  there  are  not  more  than 
three  or  four  small  villages  round  all  the  coast.  There 
are  no  farmsteads,^  or  crofts,  such  as  break  the  solitude 
of  our  most  desolate  Highland  lochs.  The  lights  which 
come  out  at  night  on  shore  and  hill  are  the  camp-fires  of 
wandering  Arabs.  It  is  well  known,  too,  how  seldom  a 
sail  is  seen  on  the  surface  of  the  Lake. 

How  very  different  it  was  in  the  days  when  Jesus  came 
down  from  Nazareth  to  find  His  home  and  His  disciples 
upon  these  shores  !  Where  there  are  now  no  trees  there 
were  great  woods  ;  where  there  are  marshes,  there  were 
noble  gardens  ;  where  there  is  but  a  boat  or  two,  there 
were  fleets  of  sails  ;  where  ihcre  is  one  town,  there  were 

^  Except  those  of  the  new  German  colony  near  'Ain  et  Tabi^'nah,  whose  red 
roofs  indicate  their  western  builders. 


446    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

nine  or  ten.  We  know  this  from  Josephus,  who  fully 
describes  the  province  he  governed  and  fought  over  only 
thirty-four  years  after  our  Lord's  ministry — too  short  a 
time  for  the  country  to  have  changed. 

The  Plain  of  Gennesaret  had  '  soil  so  fruitful,  that  all 

3orts  of  trees  would  grow  upon  it,  for  the  temper  of  the  air 

is  so  well  blended,  that  it  suits  those  many 

The  Lake  in 

our  Lord's  sorts,  especially  walnuts,  which  require  the 
colder  air  '  (that  is  relatively  to  the  rest),  '  and 
flourish  there  in  great  plenty.  There  are  palm  trees  also, 
which  grow  best  in  hot  air  ;  fig  trees  also  and  olives  grow 
near  them,  which  require  an  air  more  temperate.'  This 
conjunction  was  due  to  the  steep  slope  of  the  Galilean 
hills,  which  fall  from  as  high  as  4000  feet  above  the 
sea,  north  of  Safed,  to  680  below  at  Gennesaret.  In  the 
days  of  the  pride  of  the  land,  what  a  plunge  through 
nature  it  must  have  been,  when  one  came  down  from  oaks, 
through  olives,  sycomores  and  walnuts,  to  palms  that  had 
their  roots  washed  by  the  Lake.  '  One  may  call  this  place 
the  ambition  of  Nature,  where  it  forces  those  plants  that 
are  naturally  enemies  to  one  another  to  agree  together : 
it  is  a  happy  contention  of  the  seasons,  as  if  each  of  them 
laid  claim  to  this  country,  for  it  not  only  nourishes  dif- 
ferent sorts  of  autumnal  fruits  beyond  men's  expectation, 
but  preserves  them  a  great  while.  It  supplies  men  with 
the  principal  fruits — grapes  and  figs  continually  during 
ten  months  of  the  year,  and  the  rest  of  the  fruits,  as  they 
ripen  together  through  the  whole  year.'  ^  Even  now  one 
sees  proof  of  that  luxuriance  in  the  few  rich  patches  of 
garden  upon  Gennesaret,  in  the  wealth  of  flowers  on  the 
surrounding  slopes,  and  in  the  glory  of  maidenhair  fern 

^  Josephus,  iii.  Wars,  x.  8. 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  447 

that  springs  up  wherever  there  is  a  stream  to  give  it  water 
and  a  ruin  to  give  it  shade.^  About  Tiberias,  the  land 
was  probably  as  bare  as  now,  but  from  the  foot  of  the 
Lake  to  Bethshan  was  cultivated  for  wheat,  and  the  in- 
coming valley  from  Tabor  ^  still  holds  oleanders  deep 
enough  to  cover  a  regiment  of  horse.  The  eastern  plateau, 
bare  to-day,  was  certainly  well  wooded  down  even  to  a 
recent  time,  for  the  place-names  imply  the  presence  of 
forest  and  copse,^  while  some  of  the  wadies  by  which  you 
descend  to  the  Lake,  have  large  oaks,  terebinths,  planes 
and  carobs,  and  others  are  full  of  bush  and  brake.* 

There  were  nine  cities  round  the  Lake,  each  said  to  have 
had  not  less  than  15,000  inhabitants,  and  some  probably 
with  more.      Of  these  the  sites  of  Tiberias  and 

The  cities 

Magdala  on  the  western  shore,  and  of  Gadara   round  the 

Lake. 

and  Hippos  on  the  eastern  hills  are  certain. 
Bethsaida  and  Capernaum  were  at  the  north  end,  though 
where  exactly,  who  can  tell  ?  Taricheae  is  still  a  matter  of 
controversy,  and  so  is  Chorazin.  But  this  we  do  know, 
that  whatever  be  the  sites  to  which  these  names  were 
originally  attached,  their  towns  formed  round  the  now 
bare  Lake  an  almost  unbroken  ring  of  building. 

Tiberias  is  said  to  occupy  the  site  or  neighbourhood  of 
Rakkath,  an  ancient  town  of  Naphtali,*  and  as  Rakkath 

^  The  gardens  about  Irbid,  on  the  plateau  above  the  Lake,  are  beautiful. 
On  the  Wady  el  Hamam,  which,  true  to  its  name,  shelters  numberless  wild 
blue-grey  doves,  see  Schumacher,  Z.D.P.  V.  xiii.  67. 

-  Wady  Fejjas.  ^  Schumacher,  The  Jaulan,  15,  17,  22,  23. 

^  There  were  thick  woods  round  the  Lake  even  in  Arculfs  time,  a.d.  700. 

'•'  Talm.  /er.  Meg.  2b.  But  Talm.  Bab.  Meg.  6a  gives  other  identifica- 
tions. When  the  foundations  were  being  laid,  quantities  of  human  bones  were 
discovered.  The  site,  therefore,  cannot  have  exactly  coincided  with  that  of 
an  old  town,  but  may  have  covered  the  cemetery  adjoining  this.  Noubauer 
(Geog.  du  Talm.  209)  quotes  from  Tal.  Bab.  Sank,  12  a  proof  that  in  the 
fourth  century  Tiberias  was  called  Rakkath. 


44^   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

probably  means  strip,  or  coast,  this  may  be.     The  Herods 

did  not  raise  their  artificial  cities   from   virgin  sites,  but 

generally  rebuilt  some  old  town.    Why  Herod 

Tiberias.  ....  ,^, 

chose  this  site  is  very  clear.  There  would 
have  been  great  difficulty  in  adapting  to  his  designs  for  a 
capital,  towns  so  full  of  commerce  asTaricheae  and  Caper- 
naum ;  he  must  have  preferred  a  site  dominated  by  a  hill, 
where  he  could  build  a  castle,  yet  be  near  the  shore,  and 
no  doubt  he  found  an  advantage,  perhaps  a  pecuniary  one, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Baths,  then  famous  throughout 
the  Roman  world.^  In  what  year  the  building  was  begun 
or  finished,  is  uncertain,  but  at  the  earliest  not  more  than 
five  or  six  years  before  our  Lord  began  His  ministry  on  the 
Lake.-  Herod's  plans  were  large.  Ruins  still  indicate  a 
wall  three  miles  long.^ 

■■  Cf.  Pliny,  H.N.  v.  15,  '  Tiberiade  aquis  calidis  salubre.' 
*  Or  from  20-22  A.D.  But  Lewin,  Fasti  Sacri,  n.  1 1 63,  and  Schiirer  {Hist. 
Div.  II.  vol.  i.  144)  fix  on  26  a.d.  on  the  ground  that  Josephus  does  not  men- 
tion the  building  of  Tiberias  till  after  the  accession  of  Pilate  to  the  Procurator- 
ship  of  Judtea  (xviii.  Antt.  ii.,  cf.  3  with  2).  This,  however,  is  too  late,  for 
{a)  a  coin  of  Tiberias  under  the  Emperor  Claudius  (De  Saulcy,  Nzanis.  de  la 
Te7-re  Sainte,  334),  is  dated  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  the  city,  and  Claudius 
died  in  54  ;'  if  this  coin  be  really  of  Claudius,  then  it  drives  us  back  to  21  ; 
{b)  two  coins  of  Tiberias  under  Trajan  {Ibid.  335)  bear  80  and  81  of  the  city  : 
as  he  began  to  reign  in  98  they  forbid  us  going  further  back  than  18  a.d.; 
{c)  but  on  a  third  coin  under  Trajan  {Ibid.  336,  No.  4,  PI.  xvii.),  with  the 
date  81  of  the  city,  the  emperor  is  called  only  Gerinaniciis,  and  not  also 
Dacicus,  which  second  title  he  won  in  103  a.d.  This  gives  us  22  a.d.  for  an 
upper  limit.  The  evidence  of  this  coin  is,  of  course,  to  be  preferred  to  that 
of  another  (whetner  we  read  PEPM  or  PEP .  A)  mentioned  by  Schiirer,  145. 
These  facts  are  surely  stronger  than  the  ambiguous  evidence  of  Josephus,  bv 
which  alone  Schiirer  fixes  the  date  as  26.  The  interest  of  the  question,  of 
course,  lies  in  the  fact  that  Tiberias  is  mentioned  in  no  gospel  but  the  Fourth. 
3  Schumacher's  Survey  in  P.E.F.Q.,  1887,  85  ff.  The  walls  included  the 
citadel  of  Herod,  but  not  the  baths,  as  Furrer  maintains,  Z.D.P.  V.  ii.  54. 
Josephus' expression  that  the  baths  were  e;*  Tt/SeptdSt,  Life,  16  ;  ii.  Wars  xxi.  6, 
must  therefore  be  interpreted,  as  Schiirer  says,  '  in  the  district  of  Tiberias.' 
According  to  xviii.  Antt.  ii.  3  ;  iv.  Wars,  i.  3,  the  baths  were  outside  the 
city,  'E^i/xaoOs  or  'A/ijaAoOs^nDDn- 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  449 

Besides  the  imposing  citadel  there  were  a  palace,  a 
forum,  and  a  great  synagogue.^  But  the  buildings  were 
the  best  of  the  town.  No  true  Jew  would  set  foot 
on  a  site  defiled  at  once  by  the  bones  which  had  been 
uncovered  in  digging  the  foundations,  and  by  the  great 
heathen  images  which  stared  down  from  the  castle  walls. 
Failing  to  get  respectable  citizens,  Herod  swept  into  his 
city  the  scum  of  the  land.  Non  abfuerat  omen  :  he  had 
already  called  it  after  Tiberius. 

These  things — that  the  city  was  so  new,  artificial  and 
unclean — partly  explain  its  absence  from  the  records  of 
Christ's  ministry  on  the  lake.  Our  Lord  our  Lord  and 
avoided  the  half- Greek  cities,  and  among  'I'l^cnas. 
courtiers  and  officials  He  would  have  been  less  at  home 
than  He  was  among  the  common  people  of  the  country. 
But  the  surroundings  of  Tiberias,  too,  were  repellent. - 
The  city,  a  long  strip  like  its  predecessor,  the  Ribbon,  was 
drawn  out  on  the  narrowest  part  of  the  coast.  The  line  of 
its  volcanic  environment  was  as  of  rusty  mourning,  and  the 
atmosphere  was  more  confined  than  on  the  north  of  the 
lake.  The  fresh  westerly  breezes  which  blow  throughout 
the  summer  strike  the  lake  well  out  upon  its  surface,  and 
leave  the  air  inshore  below^  the  cliffs  stagnant  and  close. ' 
Tiberias  is  very  feverish.  Capernaum  and  Bethsaida  must 
have  been  more  healthy,  and  through  them  besides  ran 

^  The  palace  was  on  the  Acropolis,  Jos.  Life,  12,  described  by  Schu- 
macher, P.E.F.Q.  1887,  pp.  87  ft'.  Jdsephus  destroyed  it.  The  Forum  was 
often  used  during  Josephus'  occupation  of  the  city:  //;.  17,  etc.  The  syna- 
gogue or  'Upoa^vx'h  was  a  jxiyiaTOv  oiKruxa,  lb.  54. 

-  Schiirer  is  here  quite  incorrect:  '  the  most  beautiful  spot  in  Galilee,' //;V/. 
i.  ii.  19;  'a  beautiful  and  fertile  district,'  lb.  ii.  143. 

^  The  Rev.  W.  Ewing,  late  of  Tiberias,  informs  me  that  this  is  correct. 
Many  travellers  have  noticed  it  :  cf.  Robinson,  Macgregor,  etc.  Tiberias  lies 
full  in  face  of  the  hot  south  winds  blowing  up  the  Ghor,  cf.  Frei  in  Z.D.  P.  V. 
ix.  100  f. 

2  F 


450   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  greatest  of  the  Galilean  thoroughfares,  the  Via  Maris, 
pouring  a  steady  stream  of  busy  life.  Life,  both  physical 
and  mental,  was  more  in  current  in  the  cities  of  our  Lord's 
choice  than  in  that  of  Herod's.  Nevertheless,  while  Beth- 
saida  and  Capernaum  have  passed  away,  Tiberias  endures  ; 
and  the  name  of  the  morbid  tyrant  still  stamps  a  region 
from  which  that  of  Jesus  has  vanished.  The  obvious 
reason  is  the  black  acropolis  above  Tiberias.^  Capernaum, 
where  Matthew  sat  at  custom,  depended  on  the  great  road, 
and  faded  when  commerce  took  a  new  direction.  But 
Tiberias,  the  only  defensible  site,  being  at  once  on  the 
lake  and  on  a  hill,  necessarily  became  the  seat  of  the 
government  of  the  province,  which,  in  time  of  course,  took 
from  it  its  designation.  That  is  why  the  name  of  the 
foreign  emperor,  first  embalmed  here  in  a  most  sordid 
flattery,  is  still  buried  in  this  obscurity  and  silence.  But 
Christ  went  up  these  roads  to  rule  the  world. 

The  Baths  of  Tiberias  lie  a  mile  from  the  south  end  of 
the  ancient  city  wall.  Amidst  all  the  wreckage  of  fortune 
The  Baths  ^"^^  ^^  name  with  which  this  coast  is  strewn, 
ofTibenas.  ^-j^ggg  springs,  ministering  to  the  changeless 
sorrows  of  humanity,  have  alone  preserved  their  reputa- 
tion and  their  name.  Hammath  they  were  in  the  Old 
Testament,  Emmaus  when  the  Greeks  came,  and  to-day 
Hummam.-  Patients  come  to  them  from  all  parts  of 
Syria,  chiefly  in  June  and  July,  when  the  neighbourhood 

^  When  Saladin  took  Tiberias  in  1 187,  the  citadel  did  not  yield  to  him  till 
after  the  battle  of  Hattin. 

^  There  are  four  springs  with  a  temperature  of  about  144°:  'The  deposit 
consists  chiefly  of  carbonate  of  lime  with  a  very  small  proportion  of  muriatic 
salts,'  quoted  by  Robinson,  B.R.  iii.  259,  260.  Merrill,  East  ofjordajt,  men- 
tions a  cave  filled  with  steam  at  a  temperature  of  86°,  on  the  hill  on  which 
the  castle  stands. 


^ 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  45  i 

is  crowded.  Like  all  medicinal  baths  in  the  East,  they 
heal  also  the  feuds  and  quarrels  of  the  population.  The 
peninsula  on  which  the  baths  of  Gadara  stand  is,  as  wc 
shall  see,  considered  neutral  ground  by  rival  tribes  around 
it.  So  was  it  wont  to  be  here.  When  Josephus  and  John 
of  Gischala  divided  Galilee  into  rival  camps,  the  latter, 
pretending  sickness,  requested  from  Josephus  a  safe-con- 
duct that  he  might  visit  the  baths  at  Emmaus,  and  it 
was  granted  to  him.^  It  was  no  doubt  the  existence  of 
these  wells  which  reconciled  the  Jews  to  Tiberias,  and 
changed  that  banned  and  cursed  site  into  one  of  the  four 
sacred  cities  of  the  Jews,  with  thirteen  synagogues.  The 
baths  were  famed  across  the  whole  ancient  world.  Pliny 
speaks  of  Tiberias  '  calidis  aquis  salubris  : '  ^  and  on  a  coin 
of  Tiberias  under  Trajan,  there  is  a  figure  of  Hygeia,  feed- 
ing the  serpent  of  Aesculapius,  and  sitting  on  a  rock  from 
beneath  which  breaks  a  spring.^  Our  Lord  paid  no  visit 
to  this  spring  as  He  did  to  the  pool  of  Bethesda,  but  the 
patients  that  were  brought  to  it  from  all  parts  of  Syria 
doubtless  swelled  the  great  numbers  who  were  laid  at 
his  feet.  There  are  now  in  Tiberias,  for  His  sake,  a 
physician  and  a  hospital,  who  enjoy  the  same  oppor- 
tunities.* 

Of  equal  importance  with  Tiberias  was  Tarichea^,  for 
according  to  Pliny,^  in  his  day  it  gave  its  name  to  the 
whole  lake;  it  had  a  large  population  in  52  B.C.,  when 
we   first  hear  of  it ;  ^    it  was  a  centre   of  industry   and 

^  ii.  Wars,  xxi.  6.  -  H.N.  v.  15. 

^  De  Saulcy,  Numis.  de  la  Tern  Sainte,  335,  Trajan,  i,  2  :  Plate  .wii.  9. 

■*  The  Medical  Mission  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  under  Dr. 
Torrance.  '•'  H.N.  v.  15. 

"  xiv.  Antt.  vii.  3.  Then  Cassius  visited  it  again  in  43,  writing  to  Cicero 
'ex  castris  Taricheis,'  Cic.  ad  Faiiiiliare<^  xii.  11.     The  next  mention  of  it  is 


452    The  Historical  Geog^^aphy  of  the  Holy  Land 

commerce,  and  in  Josephus'  time  a  greater  stronghold  of 
Jewish  patriotism  than  almost  any  other  town  in  Galilee. 

But  there  is  a  great  mystery  about  Taricheae. 

The  name  is  neither  mentioned  in  the  Gospels 
nor  found  upon  the  lake  to-day.     Till  some  definite  proof 

be  discovered,  the  site  will  continue  a  matter 

Its  position.  -  ,  .  ,  ,  . 

of  controversy,  for  the  evidence  we  have  is 
so  balanced  on  either  side  that  the  leading  authorities 
have  changed  their  opinions  more  than  once.^  We  have 
one  certain  datum,'^  that  Taricheae  was  thirty  stadia,  or 
three  and  three  quarter  miles  from  Tiberias  ;  the  question 
is,  was  it  north  or  south  of  Tiberias,  was  it  at  Kerak  at 
the  issue  of  the  Jordan  from  the  lake,  or  at  Mejdel  on  the 
Plain  of  Gennesaret }  Pliny  says  south,^  but  his  evidence  as 
to  some  other  towns  is  not  correct,  and  we  cannot  depend 
on  him  here.  The  classic  passage  is  the  description  by 
Josephus   of  Vespasian's   advance   from    Scythopolis   on 

not  till  nearly  a  century  after,  when  Nero  gave  it  along  with  Tiberias  to 
Agrippa  II.  (xx.  Aiitt.  viii.  4 ;  ii.   Wars,  xiii.  2). 

^  The  question  of  the  site  of  Tarichese  was  discussed  first  by  the  officers 
of  the  English  Survey:  P.E.F.Q.,  1877,  10  ff.,  Wilson,  originally  in  favour 
of  the  southern  site  at  Kerak,  here  fixes  on  Mejdel ;  121,  Kitchener  fixes 
on  Kh.  el  Kuneitriyeh,  two  miles  north  of  Tiberias;  181,  Conder  quotes 
Pliny.  In  1878,  p.  79,  H.  K.  K.  ;  190  ff.,  Conder  argues  fully  for  Kerak. 
In  Germany,  Ebers  and  Guthe  {Piilastina  i.  317  f.  501),  and  Socin  (Bddekers 
Guide,  1S76)  favour  the  northern  site,  Mejdel.  A  discussion  continues 
through  the  Z.D.P.V.  viii.  95,  Spiers  (Mejdel);  ix.  104  ff.  Frei  (do.); 
X.  120,  Jakob;  xi.  216  ff.,  van  Kasteren  seeks  to  remove  the  objections  to 
Kerak  from  Vespasian's  advance  on  Tiberias,  by  taking  the  latter  not  along 
the  coast,  but  by  the  plateau  above;  xii.  145  ff.,  Furrer  argues  at  length 
against  Kerak  and  for  a  northern  site,  both  for  Taricheae  and  the  Emmaus  of 
V^espasian's  camp;  178,  Dechent,  against  this  second  Emmaus;  xiii.  140, 
Buhl,  who  answers  objections  to  Kerak,  and  fixes  Vespasian's  camp  at  el 
Hummam;  194,  Furrer,  who  replies  for  Mejdel;  281,  Guthe,  who  sums  up 
in  favour  of  Kerak,  thus  changing  from  his  former  position.  Schiirer  {Hist. 
I.  i.  224)  also  favours  the  southern  site. 

-  Josephus,  Life,  32.  s  ^jy;  ^^^  ._ 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  453 

Tiberias  first  and  then  on  Taricheae.  It  is  argued  that  this 
proves  Taricheae  to  the  north  of  Tiberias,for  Vespasian  could 
scarcely  have  left  it  on  his  flank  while  attacking  the  latter, 
nor  could  the  fugitives  from  Tiberias  have  fled,  as  they  are 
described  to  have  done,  to  Kcrak,  for  that  would  have  been 
in  the  face  of  the  Romans'  advance  up  the  coast.  Mejdel 
has,  therefore,  been  fixed  upon,  and  as  Josephus  tells  us 
that  Vespasian's  camp  lay  between  Tiberias  and  Tarichea; 
at  Emmaus,  where  there  were  hot  springs,^  these  have  been 
recognised  in  some  wells  two  miles  north  of  Tiberias,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Wady  'Amwas  or  'Abu  el  'Amls.^  The 
advocates  of  Kerak  maintain  that  Emmaus  can  only  be 
the  baths  to  the  south  of  Tiberias,  that  the  mention  of  a 
plain  between  Tiberias  and  Taricheae  precludes  Mejdel, 
while  they  seek  to  turn  the  objections  to  Kerak  which  rise 
from  Vespasian's  advance  by  understanding  the  latter  to 
have  taken  place  not  along  the  coast  past  Kerak,  but  by 
the  plateau  above.  To  this  statement  of  the  discussion 
there  are  only  three  points  to  be  added.  Kerak  is  not 
overhung  with  hills  from  which  arrows  could  be  shot 
into  it,  as  Josephus  describes  Taricheae  to  have  been.^ 
Josephus,  on  one  occasion,  speaks  of  going  to  Arbela  from 
Tiberias  through  Taricheae,*  which  implies  that  the  latter 
lay  north  of  Tiberias.  On  the  other  hand,  the  only  possible 
echo  of  the  name  of  Taricheae  in  later  times  is  found 
on   the  south  of  the  lake.^     The  second   point   has  been 

'  Josephus,  iii.   Wars,  x.  I  :  cf.  iv.   Wars,  i.  3. 

-  W.  'Amwas,  Frei,  Z.D.P.V.  ix.  104  ff.  :  W.  Abu  el  'Amis  on  tlie 
English  map. 

•'  inrJipeios,  iii.   JVars,  x.  I.  ■*  Z//^,  59  and  60. 

^  In  the  Jichus  ha-Sadikim  (of  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  which 
mentions  next  to  the  Batlis  of  Tiberias  a  HpSID,  that  looks  very  like  a  cor- 
ruption of  Taricheae).  See  p.  3S6  of  Carmoly's  Itineraires  de  la  Terre  Saintc 
des   xiii'-'-xvii"^   siecles.  —  Conder's   identification   of  Tarichea;  with  Takar  or 


454   ^-^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

mentioned,  but  has  not  received  its  proper  emphasis :  the 
third  has  been  overlooked.  On  opposite  sides,  they  leave 
the  question  on  the  same  delicate  balance  as  the  rest  of 
the  evidence.  A  more  decisive  discovery  would  be  the 
presence  of  brine  in  any  considerable  quantity  at  some 
point  on  the  coast :  failing  that,  the  southern  end  of  the 
lake  as  nearest  to  the  Dead  Sea,  would  be  the  most  con- 
venient position  for  such  curing-yards  as  formed  the  staple 
industry  of  Tariche^e.^  Kerak,  too,  lies  on  a  peninsula, 
just  where  the  Jordan  issues  from  the  Lake,  and  is  the 
only  position  on  the  coast  which  now  suits  Josephus' 
description  of  Taricheae  as  washed  on  more  than  one  side 
by  the  sea. 

Taricheae  is  a  Greek  word,  and  means  '  pickling  places,' 

and  Strabo  says  that  '  at  Taricheae  the  lake  supplied  the 

best    fish    for    curing.'  ^      The    pickled    fish  of 

Its  Industries.     ,^  ,  i         t-» 

Galilee  were  known  throughout  the  Roman 
world  :  not  only  were  large  quantities  taken  up  to  Jeru- 
salem at  the  season  of  the  yearly  feasts  for  the  multi- 

Takar-Aar  of  the  Mohar's  travels  {Handbook,  p.  279)  cannot  be  thought  offer 
Tarichece  is  a  Greek  name.  Nor  is  Neubauer's  identification  of  Tarichere 
with  the  Talmudic  HT'  0^3,  which  he  supposes  to  have  been  corrupted  to 
n''"in,  at  all  likely ;  though  m"'  n''2  is  placed  near  Sinnabris,  probably  l)y 
the  issue  of  the  Jordan  {Gcog.  du  Talnnid,  p.  216,  of.  with  p.  31).  Kerak  he- 
supposes  to  be  a  corruption  of  m^  ")^p  =  m^  n^3.  But  this  is  equally 
unlikely.  More  probable  is  the  hypothesis  that  Kerak  is  a  reminiscence  of 
Rakkath. 

^  Seetzen  (Reisen)  reports  the  name  Mellaha,  'salt,'  as  heard  by  him  near 
Kerak.  Robinson  {B.R.  iii.  263)  suspects  a  confusion  with  'Ain  Mellaha  on 
Lake  Huleh ;  but  Frei  reports  that,  while  he  missed  the  name  Sinn-in-Nabra, 
Mellaha  was  given  him  as  the  name  of  a  place  to  be  sought  for  on  the  hill 
slopes,  and  Kasteren  heard  the  coast-level  called  Mellaha  (for  these  references 
see  n.  i,  p.  452),  and  Guerin  reports  the  name  Khurbet  el  Mellaha.  If  this 
name  be  really  there,  it  would  go  far  towards  fixing  the  southern  site. 

-  .\vi.  ch.  ii.  §  45.  Pickled  fish  (Ta/st'x'?)  were  much  known  in  the  Roman 
and  Greek  world.  Many  places  on  the  Egyptian  coast  had  the  name  'Yapixion. 
The  Galilean  port  is  called  'YapLxeai,  'Yapixcuai,  and  Taptx"''*- 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  455 


tudes  which  gathered  there,  but  barrels  of  them  were 
carried  round  the  Mediterranean.  Josephus  describes 
Tarichea;  as  full  of  materials  for  ship-building,  and  with 
many  artisans.^  The  harbour  could  shelter  a  fleet  of 
vessels.  That  so  important  a  place,  and  moreover  one 
not  like  Tiberias,  official  and  foreign,  but  thoroughly 
Galilean,  as  Josephus  testifies,  and  a  centre  of  the  disciples' 
own  craft,  should  never  be  mentioned  in  the  Gospels  is 
remarkable.-  The  reason  may  be  that,  at  this  date, 
Taricheoe  was  still  Greek — the  name  implies  that  its 
industry  was  at  least  of  foreign  introduction.  But  if  the 
town  really  lay  at  the  south-west  corner  of  the  lake,  we 
must  remember  that  this  district  never  seems  to  have 
been  visited  by  our  Lord  and  His  disciples.  Perhaps  it 
was  out  of  the  way  of  those  main  roads  which  they 
selected  for  their  journeys,  and  yet  not  solitary  enough  to 
afford  them  a  retreat.  It  is  not  only  Taricheae  that  is 
omitted  from  the  Gospels  ;  nothing  south  of  Gemiesaret  is 
mentioned,  neither  Tiberias  nor  the  Baths,  nor  Sinnabris, 
nor  Taricheae,  nor  Homonoea,  nor  Scythopolis.^ 

North  of  Tiberias  lay  Magdala,  the  present  Mejdel  on 
the  Plain  of  Gennesaret/  and  Capernaum,  Bethsaida,  and 

^  iii.  Wars,  x.  6. 

-  Large  draughts  of  fish,  such  as  we  read  of  in  the  Gospels,  must  have  been 
carried  to  Taricheix-  to  be  cured.  They  could  not  be  otherwise  used  in  that 
tropical  climate. 

^  How  little  is  to  be  inferred  from  the  silence  of  the  Gospels  about  places 
mentioned  in  Josephus  is  to  be  seen  from  the  reverse  case  of  the  silence  of 
Josephus  about  Nazareth.  He  agitated  and  fought  pretty  well  all  over 
Galilee,  he  mentions  many  VT''°ges  as  obscure  as  Nazareth,  and  yet  he  is  silent 
about  the  latter.  Homonav  {Joseph.  Life,  54),  'Ofxofoia,  thirty  stades  from 
Tiberias,  'Ard  el  Hamma  (Furrer,  Z.D.P.V.  ii.  52),  or  Umm  Jiinia  as  on 
P.E.F.  iMaf,  1891.  On  the  absolutely  lost  city  of  Philoteria,  which  lay  to  the 
south  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  Polybius  v.  10,  cf.  Schiirer  1.  i.  196. 

■*  Migdalel,  cf.  Josepluis. 


456   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Chorazin  upon  sites  which  will  probably  always  remain 

matters  of  dispute.      Chorazin  might  be  Khersa  on  the 

eastern  shore,  but  is  more  probably  the  present 

ruins  ^  of  Keraseh  northwards  from  Tell-Hum. 

Capernaum  has  been  assigned  both  to  Tell-Hum,  three 

miles  SW.  of  the  issue  of  Jordan  and  Khan 

Chorazin.         „,r.  1  i"  r   /-> 

Mmyeh  on  the  northern  edge  of  Gennesaret ; 

but  the  evidence  is  greatly  in  favour   of  the  latter  site,^ 

and  one  may  fix  the  house  of  Jesus,  as  Mark 

calls  it,  the  birthplace  of  the  Gospel,  at  that 

north-east   corner   of  fair   Gennesaret,  where   the   waves 

beat  now  on  an   abandoned  shore,  but  once  there  was  a 

1  With  which  both  Arculf,  about  670  A.  D. ,  and  Willibald,  723-726,  identify  it. 

"  Capernaum  was  Kephar-Nahum,  the  village  of  Nahum.  A  strong  Chris- 
tian tradition  from  the  sixth  century  onward  has  fixed  it  at  Tell-Hum,  and 
this  site  is  preferred  by  such  authorities  as  Wilson,  Furrer,  and  Socin  {Biied. 
ed.  3,  258  ;  also  Schiirer,  11.  ii.  p.  71).  Christian  tradition  has  erred  in  regard 
to  other  sites,  e.g.  Sychar,  as  we  have  seen.  Tell-Hum  is  an  impossible  con- 
traction from  Kephar-Nahum.  There  is  no  Tell  at  the  place,  and  Guerin 
{Gain.  i.  279)  is  right  in  deriving  the  name  from  Tanhum,  a  Jewish  Rabbi  buried 
here  (cf.  \\v^  Jichus  ha-Abotm  Carmoly,  Itiner,  etc.,  des  xiii'^-xvii^  siecle, 
449,  478.  But  t\\&Jichiis  ha-Sadikitn,  ib.  3S5,  sets  there  the  tombs  both  of 
Nahum  and  Tanhum).  Tell-Hum  is  on  the  great  road,  and  so  near  the 
frontier  that  it  suits  Capernaum's  character  as  a  customs  city,  but  it  is  a  water- 
less site,  with  no  such  fountain  as  Josephus  describes  m  Capernaum,  iii.  IVars, 
X.  8,  nor  near  enough  to  Gennesaret  to  suit  Josephus'  description. 

For  Khan  Minyeh  the  tradition  is  nearly  as  old.  Arculf  (670)  found 
Capernaum  here,  and  in  1334  Isaac  Chilo  {Les  Chemins  de  Jems.,  in  Carmoly 
259),  who  arrives  at  Kefar  Nahum,  says  that  here  aforetime  dwelt  Minim,  or 
sorcerers,  a  name  given  by  Jews  to  all  early  converts  to  Christianity.  The 
Talmud  defines  sinners,  or  Minim,  as  '  sons  of  Kefar  Nahum.'  Conder  and 
others  therefore  see  the  survival  of  Minim  in  Minyeh.  Furrer  [Z.D.P.  V.  ii. 
58  ff.)  objects  that  a  nickname  would  scarcely  survive  where  the  real  name 
had  died,  and  Gildemeister  {ib.  iv.  194  ff. )  says  Minyeh,  which  he  spells  from 
old  authorities  el-viimja,  is  the  Arabic  word  (common  in  Egypt  and  Spain), 
derived  from  the  Greek  }i.ovr\  and  =  mansio,  villa,  steading,  small  village. 
Here,  in  the  eleventh  century,  lay  a  place  called  Munjat  Hischam  (Kazwini's 
Lexicon).  Hischam  was  dropped  ;  in  1430  El-Munja  is  mentioned  as  a  large 
village,  after  which  even  the  whole  lake  is  called  (El-Munja  is  the  frequent 
Spanish  Almunia).     Tristram,  Israel,  gives  the  form  Miniyeh  ;  so  Delitzsch 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  457 

quay  and  a  busy  town,  and  the  great  road  from  cast  to 
west  poured  its  daily  stream  of  life.  With  regard  to 
Bethsaida,  it  has  been  supposed  by  most  that  the  refer- 
ences in  the  Gospels  require  us  to  conceive  of  two  places 
of  that  name.  Of  one  of  these  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
I^ethsaida,  Fisher-Home,  was  the  name  of  a 

Bethsaida. 

village  on  the  east  bank  of  Jordan,  and  near 
the  river's  mouth,  which  the  tetrarch  Philip  rebuilt  and 
named  Julias,  in  honour  of  the  daughter  of  Augustus.^ 
This  is  the  Bethsaida  to  which  Jesus  withdrew  on  hearing 
of  the  Baptist's  death,^  and  near  which  was  the  desert  place';' 
described  by  John  ^  as  on  the  other  side  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  where  the  five  thousand,  who  had  followed  Him 
on  foot  by  the  fords  over  Jordan,^  were  miraculously  fed. 
The  level  plain  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  the  Butaiha,  so 
fertile  that  some  have  claimed  it  for  Gennesaret,  still  helps 
us  to  understand  how  there  was  much  grass  in  the  placed 
When  the  meal  was  over,  Jesus,  we  are  told,  constrained 
His  disciples  \.o go  to  the  other  side  before  towards  Bethsaida. 


derives  the  name  from  Mineh,  harbour.  However  this  may  be,  Khan  Minyeh 
suits  generally  the  description  of  Josephus,  iii.  Wars,  x.  8  ;  while  he  might  as 
easily  be  brought  here  when  wounded  on  the  Jordan  (Life,  71-73)  as  to  Tell- 
Hum.  The  references  in  the  Gospels  to  Capernaum  all  suit  Khan  Minyeh. 
There  are  ruins,  Quaresniius  ii.  56S,  both  on  the  plain,  Robinson  and  Merrill 
[E.  of  Jordan  301  f. )  who  found  a  city  wall,  and  on  the  hill,  Schumacher, 
{Z.D.P.V.  .\iii.  70:  place-names  Tell  el  'Oreme,  dahr  es  sillam,  ard  es 
siki  umm  Je'ade[?]).  Robinson, Z.  R.  348-358  ;  Conder  {Handbook  and  T.  W. ) ; 
Henderson  {Pal.  158  f.);  Keim's /^j«j,  Eng.  Ed.  ii.  367  flF. ;  Stanley,  5'w. 
and  Pal.  384,  etc. 

'  xviii.  Antt.  ii.  I  ;  ii.  Wars,  ix.  I.  On  its  position  cf.  xviii,  ^w//.  ii.  i, 
which  fixes  it  on  the  lake  with  Life,  72,  near  Jordan  ;  cf.  ii.  Wars,  xiii.  2, 
across  Jordan,  though  this  niRy  be  the  other  Julias  of  Herod  Antipas. 

-  Luke  ix.  10.  "  Mark  vi.  31  ;  Matt.  xiv.  13.  *  John  vi.  10. 

®  One  is  now  two  miles  from  the  mouth,  P.E.F.  Large  Map. 

"  John  vi.  10.  They  sat  down  on  the  green  grass,  Mark  vi.  39  :  on  the  grass 
Malt.  xiv.  19. 


45 S    The  Historical  Geog7^aphy  of  the  Holy  Land 


Does  this  oblige  us  to  admit  anothM-  Bethsaida  on  the 
western  coast?  Some,  however  unwillingly/  conclude 
that  it  does,  and  have  found  the  second  Bethsaida  either  as 
a  suburb  of  Julias  on  the  west  bank  of  Jordan,^  or  farther 
along  the  coast  at  'Ain  Tabigha.^  But  when  Jesus  urges 
His  disciples  to  go  across  to  Bethsaida,  this  does  not  imply 
a  crossing  to  the  west,  for  Josephus  speaks  of  '  sailing 
over  from  Tiberias  to  Taricheae,'  though  these  towns  lay 
on  the  same  side  of  the  lake.^  And  in  this  case  it  would 
be  natural  for  Jesus  to  wish  to  return  from  the  scene  of 
the  miracle,  which  we  may  place  some  way  down  the 
eastern  coast,  to  Bethsaida-Julias,  for,  according  to  Luke, 
He  had  just  fled  there  from  Herod's  jurisdiction  in  the 
west.  The  Fourth  Gospel,  it  is  true,  speaks  of  Bethsaida 
in  Galilee^  but  this  need  not  mean  that  it  lay  west  of  the 
Jordan,  for,  as  we  have  seen,  the  province  of  Galilee  ran 
right  round  the  lake,  and  included  most  of  the  level  coast- 
land  on  the  east.^  It  is  not,  therefore,  necessary  to 
demand  more  than  one  Bethsaida.^  Wherever  these  three 
— Capernaum,  Bethsaida  and  Chorazin — may  have  been, 
the  well-nigh  complete  obliteration  of  all  of  them  is 
remarkable  in  this,  that  they  were  the  very  three  towns 
which  our  Saviour  condemned  to  humiliation. 

Down   the  east   coast  the   city  of  Gergesa   has   been 
identified  with  the  ruins  known  as   Khersa,  at  the  only 

^  Reland  (653-655),  who  feels  himself  very  unwillingly  shut  up  to  two 
Bethsaidas.     Henderson,  Pal.  156,  157. 

"  Thomson,  Land  and  Book.  ^  Flirer  v.  Haimendorf,  1566. 

^  Life,  89.  5  xii.  21. 

^  As  the  Kad'at  Tubariych  does  to-day  (of  ii.  Wars,  xx.  4).  Even  Judas  of 
Gamalais  sometimes  called  Galilean,  xviii.  Antt.  i.  6.  Ptolemaus,  140  a.  D., 
reckons  Julias  to  Galilee,  but  by  that  time  it  had  been  definitely  attached  to 
the  latter  (84  a.d.). 

7  So  also  I  loltzman, /«//;-/■'.///;-/';-(?<.   Theo!.  1S78,  No.  2.  383  f. 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  459 

portion  of  that  coast  on  which  the  steep  hills  come  down 
to  the  shore.^  Farther  south  there  is  the  gorge  of 
Fik,  or  Aphek,  up  which  the  great  road  ran 

Gergesa. 

from  Scythopolis  to    Damascus.      On  a  long 
camel's-neck  of  hill,  which  fills  the  middle  of  this  gorge, 
the  Kula'at  el   Hosn,  Gamala  has  been  placed,  but  not 
past  doubt.-     Hippos,  however,  was   certainly    camaiaand 
the  present  Susiyeh,  above  the  same  gorge."^    iiippos. 
Aphek  lay  a  little  higher  up  on  the  plateau,  the  present 
village   of  Fik.     And   Gadara  looked   up  the 
lake  from  the  heights  immediately  south  of  the 
Yarmuk.'*     Below  Gadara,  in  the  Ghor,  there  must  have 
been  villages,  some  by  the  lake,  like  the  present  Semak, 
and  some  at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  where  ruins  now  lie.^ 

This  catalogue  of  the  towns  on  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  if  it 
fail  to  fix  for  us  the  sites  of  many  of  them,  cannot  but 
force  our   imagination    to   realise   the  almost     a    •  „    , 

i^"  A  girdle  of 

unbroken  line  of  buildings  by  which  the  lake  towns. 
was  surrounded.  Of  this  her  coasts  still  bear  the  mark. 
As  the  Dead  Sea  is  girdled  by  an  almost  constant  hedge 
of  driftwood,  so  the  Sea  of  Galilee  is  girdled  by  a  scarcely 
less  continuous  belt  of  ruins — the  drift  of  her  ancient 
towns.^     In  the  time  of  our  Lord  she  must  have  mirrored 

^  Gergesa  is  the  reading  supported  by  the  documents.  Gerasa  is  impos- 
sible.    Y^€\xa,Jesiis,  has  argued  strongly  for  Gadara. 

-  See,  for  the  arguments  between  this  and  Ciamli,  Schlirer,  Hist.  ii.  i. 

"  Clermont  (janneau  was  the  first  to  suggest  that  the  name  Susiyeh,  the 
Arabic  equivalent  of  Hippos,  might  be  found  here,  and  the  discovery  was  made 
by  Schumacher,  P.E.F.Q.  1SS7,  36  fF.  ;  The  JanlAn,  244;  Neubauer,  Gio. 
(in  Taliii.  238  f.  *  For  a  description  of  Gadara  see  ch.  xxviii. 

°  Over  the  present  road,  down  the  Ghur,  south-west  from  Gadara,  and  just 
at  the  foot  of  the  hill. 

^  *  These  accumulated  fragments,  the  mullitude  of  towns,  and  the  mag- 
nificence of  the  constructions  of  which  they  were  proofs,  recalled  to  my 
mind  the  road  which  leads  along   the  foot  of  V'esuvius  from  Castellamare 


460   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

within  the  outline  of  her  guardian  hills  little  else  than 
city-walls,  houses,  synagogues,  wharves  and  factories.^ 
Greek  architecture  hung  its  magnificence  over  her  simple 
life :  Herod's  castle,  temple  and  theatres  in  Tiberias  ;  the 
bath-houses  at  Hammath  ;  a  hippodrome  at  Taricheae  ; 
and,  farther  back  from  the  shore,  the  high-stacked  houses 
of  Gamala  ;  the  amphitheatre  in  Gadara,  looking  up 
the  lake  with  the  Acropolis  above  it,  and  the  paved 
street  with  its  triumphal  archway  ;  the  great  Greek  villas 
on  the  heights  about  Gadara  ;  with  a  Roman  camp  or 
two,  high  enough  up  the  slopes  to  catch  the  western 
breeze,  and  daily  sending  its  troops  to  relieve  guard  in 
the  cities.  All  this  was  what  imposed  itself  upon  that 
simple  open-air  life  on  fields  and  roads  and  boats,  which 
we  see  in  the  Gospels,  so  sunny  and  so  free.  Amid  the 
sowing  and  reaping,  the  fishing  and  mending  of  nets,  the 
journeying  to  and  fro  upon  foot,  all  the  simple  habits  of 
the  native  life,  do  we  not  catch  some  shadows  of  that 
other  world,  which  had  grown  up  around  it,  in  the  crowds 
that  are  said  to  grind  on  one  another  in  the  narrow  lanes, 
like  corn  between  millstones  ;  ^  in  the  figures  of  the  cen- 
turion, the  publican,  and  the  demoniac  crying  that  his 
name  was  Legion  ;  in  the  stories  of  the  pulling  down  of 
barns  and  the  building  of  greater  ;  of  opulent  householders 
leaving  their  well-appointed  villas  for  a  time  with  every 
servant  in  his  place,  and  the  porter  set  to  watch  ;  of 
market-places  and  j-Z/r^/j-,  as  well  2js>  lanes  \^  in  the  com- 
parison of  the  towns  on  the  lake  to  great  cities — Sodom 

to  Portici.  As  there,  the  borders  of  the  Lake  of  Gennesareth  seem  to  have 
borne  cities  instead  of  harvests  and  forests.' — Lamartine. 

^  There  were  tanneries  and  potteries  by  the  present  'Ain  et  Tabighah. 

-  Mark  v.  24  :  avuedXi^ov  avrbv  ;  of.  Luke  viii,  42  ;  avveirvfyov  avrbv. 

^  Go  ye  out  itito  the  streets  and  lanes. 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  461 


and  Gomorrah,  Tyre  and  Sidon  and  Nineveh  ;  in  the 
mention  of  the  sins  of  a  city,^  and  of  Mammon  and  all  the 
things  after  ivhich  the  Gentiles  seek,  and  in  the  acknow- 
ledgment that  Galilee  was  a  place  where  a  man  might 
gain  the  zvhole  zvorld? 

Twice  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  I  saw  the  lake  as  it 
lay  in  those  thronged  days.  One  of  these  occasions  was 
among  the  tombs  of  Gadara.  Some  peasants 
had  just  dug  up  the  gravestone  of  a  Roman  of  our  Lord's 
soldier,  whose  name  was  given — P  .  . .  Aelius, 
and  that  he  had  lived  forty  years,  and  served  nineteen  ;  but 
it  also  said  that  he  was  of  a  Legion,  the  Fourteenth.^  As 
I  rea-d  this  last  detail — and  the  word  is  still  stamped  on 
other  stones  in  the  neighbourhood — I  realised  how  familiar 
that  engine  of  foreign  oppression  had  been  to  this  region, 
so  that  the  poor  madman  could  find  nothing  fitter  than  it 
to  describe  the  incubus  upon  his  own  life.  My  name  is 
Legion,  he  sa.i6,for  we  are  many.  The  second  occasion 
•was  at  Fik,  as  I   looked  across  the  site  of  Gamala  and 


1  Luke  vii.  37.  -  Luke  ix.  25. 

2  The  whole  inscription  read  as  follows  : 

DM 
P  .  AEL  .  .  . 

BI L\ 

lOH 

MILKS  LEG  xnn 

G  ANO  XL 
STIP  XIX  ER 
VDES  INSTIT 
VTI  M  GAI 
VS  ET  RVFI  . 
US  PROCV 
RAVERVNT 

Publius  (?)  Aelius  ...  A  soldier  of  the  Fourteenth  Legion, 'Gemina,  in  his 
fortieth  year,  and  nineteenth  of  service  ;  the  heirs  designate,  Marcus  Gaius 
and  Rufinus  (?),  saw  to  everything. 


462    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

down  the  gorge,  on  the  lake  and  the  houses  of  Tiberias 
opposite — their  squalor  glorified  in  the  mid-day  sun,  I 
saw  nothing  but  water  and  houses,  and  the  sound  came 
over  the  hill  of  a  bugle  of  a  troop  of  Turkish  horse.  It 
was  a  glimpse  and  an  echo  of  that  time  when  Greek  cities 
and  Roman  camps  environed  the  lake.  Yet  only  a 
glimpse  ;  for  Gamala  should  have  been  stacked  with  her 
high  houses,  and  the  lake  dotted  with  sails,  and  on  the 
air  there  should  have  been  the  hum  of  tens  of  thousands 
of  a  population  crowded  within  a  few  square  miles.  The 
only  sound  I  heard,  save  the  bugle,  was  of  bees.  The 
scene  differs  from  what  it  was  as  much  as  a  wood  in 
winter  from  a  wood  in  summer,  or  a  bay  at  ebb  from  a 
bay  near  full  tide,  when  the  waters  are  rushing  and  the 
boats  are  sailing  to  and  fro. 

The  industries  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  were  agriculture 
and  fruit-growing;  dyeing  and  tanning,  with  every  depart- 
ment of  a  large  carrying  trade  ;  but  chiefly  fishing,  boat- 
building and  fish-curing.  Of  the  last,  which  spread  the 
lake's  fame  over  the  Roman  world  before  its  fishermen 
and  their  habits  became  familiar  through  the  Gospel, 
there  is  no  trace  in  the  Evangelists.  The  fisheries  them- 
selves were  pursued  by  thousands  of  families.  They  were 
no  monopoly  ;  but  the  fishing-grounds,  best  at  the  north 
end  of  the  lake,  where  the  streams  entered,  were  free  to 
all.     And  the  trade  was  very  profitable.^ 

It  was  in  the  ranks  of  those  who  pursued  this  free  and 
hardy  industry  that  Christ  looked  for  His  disciples.     Not 

1  See  above  on  Tarichere,  pp.  451-455.  Frei  reports  that,  in  one  cast  of 
the  net  from  the  shore,  he  saw  a  fisherman  secure  twenty-eight,  and  he 
rightly  infers  from  that  an  enormous  wealth  of  fish  in  the  lake,  Z.D.P.V. 
ix.  102.  On  the  kinds  of  fish,  see  Hasselquist's  Travels;  Tristram,  The  Land 
of  Israel;  Merrill,  East  of  Jordan,  i.  41.     They  are  chiefly  a  kind  of  mullet. 


The  Lake  of  Galilee  463 

wealth}',  they  were  yet  independent,  with  no  servile  tem- 
pers about  them  ;  and  with  no  private  or  trade  wrongs 
disadjusting  their  consciences.  This  was  one  of  the 
reasons  for  which  our  Lord  chose  them.  In  that  age  it 
would  have  been  easy  to  gather,  as  David  did  into  the 
Cave  of  Adullam,  all  that  were  in  debt,  or  in  distress  or 
discontented,  or  had  run  away  from  their  masters.  But 
such  would  not  have  been  the  men  to  preach  a  spiritual 
gospel,  the  coming,  not  of  a  national,  but  of  a  universal 
kingdom.  Men  brought  up,  however  justly,  to  feel  the 
wrongs  of  their  class  or  of  their  trade  before  anything  else, 
would  have  been  of  no  use  to  Christ.  Just  as  futile  would 
those  '  innovators  '  have  proved,  whom  Josephus  describes 
to  have  so  largely  composed  the  population  of  Galilee. 
Christ  went  to  a  trade  which  had  no  private  wrongs  :  and 
called  men,  not  from  their  dreams,  but  from  work  they 
were  contented  to  do  from  day  to  day  till  something 
higher  should  touch  them.  And  so  it  has  come  to  pass 
that  not  the  jargon  of  the  fanatics  and  brigands  in  the 
highlands  of  Galilee,  but  the  speech  of  the  fishermen  of  her 
lake,  and  the  instruments  of  their  simple  craft,  have  become 
the  language  and  symbolism  of  the  world's  religion. 


CHAPTER   XXII 


THE    JORDAN    VALLEY 


2G 


Fo7  this  ChaJ>!er  comiili  MaJ)s  I.,  III.,  IV.,  V.  and  VI. 


THE  JORDAN  VALLEY 

AMONG  the  rivers  of  the  world  the  Jordan  is  unique 
by  a  twofold  distinction  of  Nature  and   History. 
There   are   hundreds   of  other  streams  more    Natural  and 
larcre,  more  useful,  or  more  beautiful  ;  there  is    historical 

t>    '  '  '  uniqueness 

none  which  has  been  more  spoken  about  by  of  the  Jordan, 
mankind.  Other  rivers  have  awakened  a  richer  poetry 
in  the  peoples  through  whom  they  pass, —  for  the  refer- 
ences to  Jordan  in  the  Bible  are  very  few,  and,  with  two 
or  three  exceptions,  prosaic, — but  of  none  has  the  music 
sounded  so  far,  or  so  pleasantly,  across  the  world.  There 
are  holy  waters  which  annually  attract  to  themselves  a 
greater  number  of  pilgrims,  but  there  is  none  to  which 
pilgrims  travel  from  such  various  and  distant  lands.  In 
influence  upon  the  imagination  of  man,  the  Nile  is  perhaps 
the  Jordan's  only  competitor.  He  has  drawn  to  his  vallc)- 
one  after  another  of  the  greatest  races  of  the  world  ;  his 
mystery  and  annual  miracle  have  impressed  the  mind 
equally  of  ancient  and  of  modern  man.  But  the  Nile  has 
never  been  adopted  by  a  universal  religion.  To  the 
fathers  of  human  civilisation,  that  silent  flood,  which  cut 
their  land  in  two,  across  which  their  dead  were  ferried, 
and  the  Lord  Sun  himself  passed  daily  to  his  death 
among  the  desert  hills,  was  the  symbolic  border  of  the 
next    world.     But    who    now   knows   this,    who    feels   it, 

467 


468   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

except  as  a  fact  of  very  ancient  history  ?  Whereas,  still 
to  half  the  world,  the  short,  thin  thread  of  the  Jordan  is 
the  symbol  of  both  great  frontiers  of  the  spirit's  life  on 
earth — the  baptism  through  which  it  passes  into  God's 
Church,  and  the  waters  of  death  which  divide  this  pilgrim 
fellowship  from  the  promised  land. 

The  Nile  and  the  Jordan,  otherwise  so  different,  are 
alike  in  this,  that  the  historical  singularity  of  each  has 
behind  it  as  remarkable  a  singularity  of  physical  forma- 
tion. Both  valleys  were  laid  open  by  the  same  geological 
disturbance,^  and  it  left  them  equally  monstrous  and 
unique.  Every  one  knows  the  incomparableness  of  the 
Nile — that  solitary  and  stupendous  river  which,  unfed  for 
a  thousand  miles  by  any  tributary  or  by  rain  from  heaven, 
has  sustained  of  his  own  resource  the  civilisation  of  a 
mighty  empire,  and  still,  by  his  annual  flood,  bestows  on 
the  desert  a  fertility  not  excelled  in  any  country,  which 
has  all  the  fountains  of  heaven  and  of  the  great  deep  in 
its  fortune.  In  its  own  way  the  Jordan  is  as  solitary  and 
extreme  an  effect  of  natural  forces.  There  may  be  some- 
thing on  the  surface  of  another  planet  to  match  the 
Jordan  Valley  :  there  is  nothing  on  this.  No  other  part 
of  our  earth,  uncovered  by  water,  sinks  to  300  feet  below 
the  level  of  the  ocean.^     But  here  we  have  a  rift  more 


^  Hull,  P.E.F.  Survy  Memoirs,  Geology,  io8  ;  Dawson,  Mod.  Science  in 
Bible  Lands,  58S  ;  Gregory,  Proc.  Brit.  Assoc.  1894.     See  below. 

-  The  other  depressions  of  the  surface  of  the  continents  below  ocean- 
level  are : — Asia  :  the  level  of  the  Caspian  Sea  is  more  than  80  feet  below 
that  of  the  Elack  Sea;  and  part  of  the  Caspian  coasts,  a  depression  be- 
tween Lake  Elton  and  the  Ural,  in  which  a  lake  used  to  lie,  but  it  is  now 
dry,  is  151  feet  below  the  Black  Sea,  In  Africa  there  is  the  Fayum,  part 
of  which  is  a  few  feet — 5  to  20  feet — under  sea-level ;  and  the  Shott  Melr'ir 
marshes  and  salt  fields  in  the  Sahara,  which  are  from  95  to  279  feet  below 
the  Mediterranean. 


The  Jo7'dan  Valley  469 

than  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  long,^  and  from  two  to 
fifteen  broad,  which  falls  from  the  sea-level  to  as  deep  as 
1292  feet  below  it  at  the  coast  of  the  Dead  Sea,  while  the 
bottom  of  the  latter  is  1300  feet  deeper  still.  In  this 
trench  there  are  the  Jordan,  a  river  nearly  one  hundred 
miles  long  ;  two  great  lakes,  respectively  twelve  and  fifty- 
three  miles  in  length  ;  large  tracts  of  arable  country,  espe- 
cially about  Genncsaret,  Bethshan  and  Jericho,  regions 
which  were  once  very  populous,  like  the  coasts  of  the 
Lake  of  Galilee  ;  and  the  sites  of  some  famous  towns — 
Tiberias,  Jericho,  and  the  '  Cities  of  the  Plain.'  Is  it  not 
true  that  on  the  earth  there  is  nothing  else  like  this  deep, 
this  colossal  ditch  ? 

Geologists  ^  tell  us  that  these  regions,  being  covered 
with  water,  from  which  the  granite  peaks  of  Sinai  alone 
protruded,   great  deposits   of  limestone  were 

I'onnation  of 

laid    upon    the    ocean-bed.      Under   pressure  the  Jordan 

Valley. 

from  east  and  west  the  limestone  rose  above 
the  water  in  long  folds,  running  north  and  south.^  Two  of 
these  folds  are  now  the  ranges  on  either  side  of  the  Jordan 
Valley,  but  the  latter  is  due,  not  only  to  their  elevation,  but 
to  a  violent  rupture  of  the  strata  between  them.  This 
'  fault '  is  not  confined  to  that  portion  of  the  valley  which 
is  beneath  sea-level :  it  extends  all  the  way  from  Northern 
Syria,  through  between  the  Lebanons,  down  the  Jordan 

^  From  just  below  Lake  Iliilch,  where  the  dip  below  sea-level  begins, 
to  the  point  on  the  Arabah  south  of  the  Dead  Sea,  where  the  valley  rises 
again  to  sea-level. 

-  Hull,  P.E.F.  Mem.  Geol.  Pt.  iv.  ch.  i.  io8  ff.  ;  Dawson,  Mod.  Science 
in  Bible  Lands,  ch.  viii.  and  App.  iv.  ;  Lartet,  La  Mer  H/orle ;  Conder, 
T.  W.  217  fif. 

^  '  Early  in  the  Miocene  epoch,  ...  by  tangential  pressure  of  the  earth's 
surface  due  to  contraction,  .  .  .  the  contraction  being  due  to  the  secudar 
cooling  of  the  crust.' — Hull,  p.  io8. 


470   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  along  the  Wady  'Arabah  to  the  Gulf  of  'Akaba,  or 
three  hundred  and  fifty  miles.^  Had  the  two  long-folds 
risen  in  complete  isolation  from  each  other,  the  valley 
would  to-day  have  been  an  arm  of  the  Red  Sea  stretching 
to  the  foot  of  Lebanon,  and  in  such  a  case  how  changed 
the  whole  history  of  Palestine  must  have  been  !  But  the 
two  folds  were  not  absolutely  disconnected.  As  they  rose 
from  the  waters  there  rose  between  them,  near  their 
southern  end,  a  diagonal  ridge  of  limestone,  which  is  still 
visible  about  forty-five  miles  to  the  north  of  the  Gulf  of 
'Akaba,  in  the  present  water-parting  between  'Akaba  and 
the  Dead  Sea.^  This  not  only  shut  out  the  Red  Sea,  but 
shut  in  a  part  of  the  old  ocean-bed  with  a  large  quantity 
of  salt  water.^  There  then  followed  a  period  of  great 
rains,  with  perpetual  snow  and  glaciers  on  Lebanon, 
during  which  the  valley  was  filled  with  fresh  water  to  an 
extent  of  two  hundred  miles,*  or  one  long  lake  from  the 
Sea  of  Galilee  to  some  fifty  miles  south  of  the  present  end 
of  the  Dead  Sea.  How  the  valley  passed  from  that  con- 
dition to  its  present  state  is  not  clear.  Some  think  the 
change  of  climate — great  decrease  of  rain  with  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  glaciers — sufficient  to  account  for  the 
gradual  shrinking  of  the  one  large  lake  to  the  limits  of 
two  smaller  ones.^     There  are,  however,  traces  of  various 

^  Dawson,  p.  442. 

"  '  The  water-parting  which  here  crosses  the  valley  has  doubtless  con- 
tinued as  such  ever  since  the  whole  region  emerged  from  the  ocean.' — 
Hull,  ibid.  20. 

^  Hull,  p.  109  (also  120).  Hull  accounts  for  the  peculiar  fauna  and  flora 
of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  and  of  Jordan  by  their  original  connection  with  the 
ocean,  109,  no.  They  suffered  the  change  experienced  elsewhere  on  the 
earth's  surface,  e.g.  on  the  Caspian  Sea,  of  the  passage  from  salt  to  fresh 
water. 

*  Hull,  15,  113,  with  sketch-map,  p.  72,  showing  the  lake  ;  Dawson,  444. 

=  Hull,  115. 


The  Jordan  Valley  471 

sea-beaches  so  distinct,  and  in  some  cases  so  far  apart, 
that  it  has  been  inferred  that  the  confinement  of  the 
water  successively  within  these  must  have  been  caused  as 
much  by  sudden  convulsions,  for  which  the  region  has 
always  been  notorious,  as  by  gradual  desiccation.  This 
inference  is  supported  by  the  fact  that,  within  the  obser- 
vation of  man,  the  Dead  Sea  has  not  become  smaller, 
but  has  rather  increased.^  Volcanic  disturbances  on  a 
very  large  scale  took  place  in  the  Jordan  Valley  within 
comparatively  recent  times.^ 

In  this  long  rift  from  the  Lebanons  to  the  Red  Sea 
there  are  six  distinct  sections  :  the  Bcka'a,  or  valley 
between   the    Lebanons  ;  the  Upper   Jordan, 

Sections  of 

from    its    sources    at    the    foot    of    Hermon      the  Jordan 

Valley. 

through  Lake  Huleh  to  the  Lake  of  Galilee  ; 
this  Lake  itself ;  the  Lower  Jordan  to  its  mouth  at  Jericho  ; 
the  Dead  Sea  ;  and,  thence  to  the  Gulf  of  'Akaba,  the 
Wady  'Arabah.  Of  these,  the  first  and  the  last  fall  outside 
our  area,  and  we  have  already  visited  the  Lake  of  Galilee  ; 
so  that  there  only  remain  to  be  described  the  Upper 
Jordan,  the  Lower  Jordan,  and  the  Dead  Sea. 


L  The  Upper  Jordan. 

The  great  valley  of  Palestine,  as  it  runs  out  from  between 
the  Lebanons,  makes  a  slight  turn   eastward  round  the 
foot  of   Hermon,  so   that   Hermon    not  only  The  sources 
looks  right  down  the  rest  of  its  course,  but  is  of  the  Jordan, 
able  to  discharge  into  this    three-fourths    of  the   waters 

1  Conder,  T.IV.  210,  220.  -  Notling,  Z.D.P.V.  1S85 


472    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


which  gather  on  his  high  and  ample  bulk.  By  these  and 
the  streams,  which  break  from  the  rest  of  the  surrounding 
hills,  the  floor  of  the  valley  is  soaked  in  moisture.  Once, 
probably,  it  was  all  a  lake.  To-day  this  has  shrunk  to  its 
lower  end — the  so-called  Lake  of  Huleh,  and  the  rest  is 
marsh  and  fat  meadow,  with  a  few  mounds  and  terraces 
covered  by  trees.  Four  streams,  which  unite  before  enter- 
ing the  lake,  contest  the  honour  of  being  considered  as 
the  source  of  the  Jordan.  The  only  one  which  does  not 
spring  upon  the  eastern  watershed  is  the  Nahr  Bareighit, 
which  comes  down  the  Merj  'Ayun  from  a  source  very 
slightly  separated  from  the  valley  of  the  Litany.  It  is 
the  smallest.  The  next  one,  the  Nahr  Hasbany,  springs 
half  a  mile  to  the  north  of  Hasbeya,  from  a  buttress  of 
Hermon,  and  comes  south  between  Hermon  and  the  Jebel 
Dahar.  This  is  the  longest  of  the  four,  and  most  in  the 
line  of  the  Jordan  itself,  but  it  has  much  less  water  than 
either  of  the  other  two — the  Nahr  Leddan,  which  is  the 
heaviest  but  the  shortest,  springing  from  Tell-el-Kadi,  in 
the  bosom  of  the  valley  itself;  and  the  Nahr  Banias, 
which  has  the  most  impressive  origin  of  all  four,  in  the 
very  roots  of  Hermon,  and  gathers  to  itself  the  largest 
number  of  tributaries.  It  is  these  two  which  have  g^ene- 
rally  been  regarded  as  the  sources  of  Jordan.^ 


£>'■ 


•^  No  ancient  writer  mentions  any  sources  of  the  Jordan  but  these  two  last 
at  Dan  and  Banias.  Josephus  styles  the  stream  which  springs  from  Dan 
'the  so-called  Little  Jordan,' iv.  Wars,  i.  i,  of.  viii.  Ajitt.  viii.  4  ;  again, 
'  the  Lesser  Jordan,'  v.  Antt.  iii.  i.  The  source  at  Banias  he  calls  the 
reputed  fountain  of  Jordan,  i.  Wars,  xxi.  3  ;  iii.  ibid.  x.  7.  It  is  in  the 
latter  passage  that  he  tells  his  story  of  Lake  Phiala  as  the  ultimate  source, 
from  which  he  says  it  had  been  proved,  by  throwing  chaff  into  it,  that  the 
fountains  at  Banias  were  fed.  Phiala,  '  120  stadia  on  the  way  to  Trachonitis,' 
is  probably  Birket  er  Ram,  Robinson,  B.H.  iii.  614  ff. 

The  Onomasticon,  sub  Aetcra  (Laisa),  gives  Paneas  as  the  source.  From 
Arculf  (700)  onwards  through  Willibald  (722),  and  through  the  entire  series 


The  Jordan  Valley  473 

Travellers  usually  arrive  first  at  the  source  of  the 
Leddan.  It  is  a  mound,  perhaps  a  hundred  yards  long, 
and   risinsf  some  sixty  feet   above   the    plain 

,      -  ,  ,  .  Ten-el-Kadi. 

before  the  plam  rises  to  Hermon.  Draped  b}' 
trees  and  bush,  it  is  plumed  and  crested  by  a  grove  of 
high  oaks.  On  the  western  side,  through  some  huge 
boulders,  whose  lower  half  its  rapid  rush  has  worn  bare,  a 
stream,  about  twelve  feet  broad  by  three  deep,  breaks 
from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  ;  while  another,  more  shallow 
and  quiet,  appears  higher  up  in  a  jungle  of  reeds  and 
bushes.  This  opulent  mound  is  called  Tell-el-Kadi,  and 
Kadi  means  the  same  as  Dan.  It  is,  therefore,  supposed 
to  be  the  site  of  Laish  or  Leshem,  which  the  Danites  took 
for  their  city.^  But  this  might  also  be  fixed  at  Banias,  and 
with  even  more  probability,^  for  Banias  is  a  better  site 
than  Tell-el-Kadi  for  the  capital  of  the  district,  and  we 
cannot  conceive  any  tribe  to  have  been  able  to  hold 
Tell-el-Kadi  who  did  not  also  hold  Banias.^ 

Paneas  lies  scarcely  an  hour  to  the  north  of  Tell-el- 
Kadi.  From  the  latter  you  pass  a  well-watered  meadow, 
covered  by  trees,  and  then  a  broad  terrace, 

Paneas. 

with  oaks,  like  an  English  park,  till  you  come 

to  the  edge  of  a  deep  gorge,  through  which  there  roars  a 

of  pilgrim  narratives  and  chronicles  in  Crusading  times  {e.g.  Saewiilf,  Fetellus, 
Benjamin  of  Tudela,  Ue  Joinville,  etc.  etc.),  and  later  writers  like  Maunde- 
ville  (1322),  Felix  Fabri  (1480) — the  story  runs  that  Jordan  springs  from  two 
sources,  Jor  and  Dan,  at  the  foot  of  Lebanon,  near  Banias.  (But  Daniel 
(1 106)  calls  the  two  issues  from  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  Jor  and  Dan.)  How 
the  names  arose  is  evident.  Dan  was  known  to  have  lain  there,  and  they 
took  the  second  syllable  in  the  name  of  the  river  to  be  its  name.  This  left 
Jor,  which,  it  was  easy  to  suppose,  was  the  name  of  the  other  fountain.  But 
the  ancients  and  medisevals  located  Dan,  not  at  Tell-el-Kadi,  but  at  Paneas. 

^  See  p.  57.  In  Josephus'  time,  when  it  was  called  Daphne,  there  was  '  a 
temple  of  the  golden  calf,'  iv.  Wars  i.  i. 

^  Oiiomasticon,  art.  Aelaa.  "*  See  p.  481. 


474   '-^^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

headlong  stream,  half  stifled  by  bush.  An  old  Roman 
Bridge  takes  you  over,  and  then  through  a  tangle  of  trees, 
brushwood  and  fern  you  break  into  sight  of  a  high  cliff  of 
limestone,  reddened  by  the  water  that  oozes  over  its  face 
from  the  iron  soil  above.^  In  the  cliff  is  a  cavern.  Part 
of  the  upper  rock  has  fallen,  and  from  the  debris  of 
boulders  and  shingle  below  there  bursts  and  bubbles 
along  a  line  of  thirty  feet  a  full-born  river.  The  place  is 
a  very  sanctuary  of  waters,  and  from  time  immemorial 
men  have  drawn  near  it  to  worship.  As  you  stand  within 
the  charm  of  it — and  this  is  a  charm  not  uncommon  in 
the  Lebanons — you  understand  why  the  early  Semites 
adored  the  Baalim  of  the  subterranean  waters  even  before 
they  raised  their  gods  to  heaven,  and  thanked  them  for 
the  rain.^  This  must  have  been  one  of  the  chief  dwellings 
of  the  Baalim — perhaps  Baal-gad  of  the  Book  of  Joshua.^ 
When  the  Greeks  came  in  later  times  they  also  felt  the 
presence  of  deity,  and  dedicated  the  grotto,  as  an  inscrip- 
tion still  testifies,  to  Pan  and  the  Nymphs.*  Hill,  cavern, 
and  fountain  were  called  the  Paneion,^  and  the  town  and 
district  Paneas.^     In  20  B.C.  Herod  the  Great  received  the 


^  The  cliff  is  '  from  a  hundred  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet,'  Robinson, 
L.R.  106. 

"  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  97,  etc. 

^  Joshua  xi.  17,  xii.  7,  xiii.  5.  There  was  also  a  Baal-Hermon.  Judges 
iii.  3,  the  Mount  of  Baal-Hermon. 

•*  Havi  re  koX  tUvfj-cpaLs  is  the  first  line  of  an  inscription  on  the  rock  of  the 
grotto. 

^  Josephus  calls  the  whole  'place'  to  IldveLov,  xv.  Anit.  x.  3,  i.  IVars, 
xxi.  3.  In  iii.  Wars,  x.  7,  he  gives  the  name  to  the  fountain.  Eusebius, 
//.£.  vii.  17,  gives  it  to  the  hill.  In  Josephus'  time  the  cave,  he  says,  over- 
hung an  unfathomable  pool. 

^  See  Schilrer's  note,  J/ist.  of  Jewish  People,  11,  i.  133.  Haj/ids  or  noi-edj, 
properly  an  adjective,  designates  both  the  country  (xv.  Antt.  x.  3,  etc. ;  cf. 
riiny,  H.N.  v.  18)  and  the  town  (xviii.  Antt.  ii.  i). 


The  Jordan  Valley  475 


whole  district  from  Augustus/  and  built  to  him  a  temple 
of  white  marble,  setting  the  bust  of  C.xsar  hard  by  the 
shrine  of  P'an.^  Philip,  the  tctrarch  of  this  region,  csesarea 
embellished  the  town  and  called  it  Cffisarea,^  I'hihppi, 
and  it  came  to  be  known  as  his  Cxsarea — Caisarea  Philippi 
— to  distinguish  it  from  his  father's  on  the  sea-coast.*  The 
official  designation  was  altered  by  Agrippa  ll.^to  Neronias, 
which  was  used  along  with  the  name  Ca^sarea  even  under 
Marcus  Aurelius,*'  but  then  died  out.  Caesarea  lasted  a 
little  longer  in  conjunction  with  Paneas,*"  till  Paneas  sur- 
vived alone,  and  has  survived  to  the  present  day,  only 
that  Arabs,  with  x\o  p  upon  their  lips,  spell  it  Banias.^ 

The  extraordinary  mixture  of  religious  and  political 
interests  which  gathered  upon  this  charming  site  during 
the  first  centuries  of  our  era  may  be  seen  at  a 

Coins  of  Pan. 

glance,  m  all  its  rich  confusion,  upon  the  pageful 
of  the  town's  coins  which  De  Saulcy  has  reproduced.^ 
Here,  on  one  coin,  we  have  the  syrinx  or  pipe  of  Pan  ; 
on  a  second  Pan  leaning  on  a  tree  and  playing  a  flute  ;  on 
a  third  the  mouth  of  the  sacred  cavern,  with  a  railing  in 
front  of  it,  and  Pan  within,  again  leaning  on  a  tree  and 
playing  the  flute  ;  on  others  the  laurelled  head  of  Apollo, 
a  pillared  temple,  and  inside  the  figure  of  Poppaea,  Nero's 
wife,  whom  he  first  kicked  to  death  and  afterwards  raised 
to  divine  honours  ;  various  emperors  with  their  title  Divus, 

1  On  the  death  of  Zenodoius,  the  previous  lord  of  these  parts,  xv.  Anlt. 
X.  3 ;  i.  Wars,  xxi.  3. 

"  xviii.  Atitt.  ii.  I.  "  xviii.  Antt.  ii.  I  ;  iii.   Wars,  ix,  7,  etc. 

^  XX.  Antt.  ix.  4. 

^  De  Saulcy,  Numisviatique  de  la  Tare  Sainte,  315,  316  :  Plate  xviii.,  cf. 
No.  7  with  No.  8.  *  *  Ibid. 

'  (ujLO  I'.  The  tradition  of  its  Greek  origin  was  strong  among  the  Arabs, 
only  they  took  its  founder  to  have  been  Balnias,  i.e.  Pliny. 

*  Op.  cit.  Plate  xviii. 


476   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  the  town's  own  title,  '  Ccxsarea — August,  Sacred  and 
With  Rights  of  Sanctuary — under  Paneion.'^  This  proves 
that  the  two  systems  of  religion  were  carried  on  together, 
and  that  Pan  was  worshipped  in  the  grotto,  whose  niches 
still  bear  his  name,  while  divine  honours  were  paid  to 
Caesar  in  the  white  temple  that  stood  perhaps  on  the  cliff 
above,-  the  site  of  the  present  Mohammedan  shrine  of 
Sheikh  Khudr,  or  St.  George.^ 

While  both  these  sanctuaries  were  open,  and  men  thus 

worshipped    side   by  side  the  forces   of  nature  and  the 

T       in  the    incarnation  of  political  power,  Jesus  came  with 

coasts  of        f^jg  disciples  to  the  coasts  of  Ca^sarea  Philippi. 

Csesarea  ^  '■  ^ 

Philippi.  Never  did  the  place  better  earn  its  title  of 
Asylos,  or  shelter  nobler  fugitives.  The  journey  of  our 
Lord  and  His  disciples  was,  in  the  first  instance,  a  retreat 
from  Jewish  hostilit}'  to  the  neutrality  of  Gentile  ground. 
But  it  became  also  the  occasion  of  His  resolution  to 
return  to  meet  the  Jews,  and  the  death  which  lay  ready 
for  Him  in  their  hate.  From  this  farthest  corner  of  the 
land  Jesus  set  His  face  steadfastly  to  Jerusalem.  The 
scenery  had  already  been  consecrated  by  the 

Ps3.1rn  xlii 

crisis  and  turning  of  a  soul,  by  the  hope  which 
another  exile  had  seen  break  through  his  drenching  sorrow, 
like  as  the  sun  breaks  through  the  mists  and  saturated 
woods  of  the  hills  around. 

' .  .  .  From  the  land  of  Jordan, 
And  the  Her 7nons,  from  the  hill  Mifar, 
Deep  unto  deep  is  calling  at  the  noise  of  thy  waterfalls : 
All  thy  breakers  and  billows  are  gone  over  me. 

1  Ibid.  8.  K ATC  .  C  EB .  lEP .  KAI .  AC  .  TH .  HANIfi .  AC  .  is  for  o.avKo'i, 
with  rights  of  asylum  or  sanctuary. 

"  The  exact  position  of  Herod's  temple  is  unknown.  Hewn  stones  are 
scattered  all  over  the  place.  -^  See  p.  162. 


The  Jordan  Valley  477 

With  a  breaking  in  my  bones  mine  enemies  reproach  me, 
While  they  say  unto  me  all  the  day,  Where  is  thy  God  f 

Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul? 
And  why  art  thou  disquieted  upon  tne  ? 
Hope  thou  in  God :  for  I  shall  yet  praise  Him, 
Health  of  7ny  coiaitcnance,,  and  vty  God.'  ^ 

This  Psalm,  amidst  its  own  sympathetic  scenery,  may 
well  have  come  into  the  hearts  of  these  fugitives,  and 
accomplished  its  due  ministry  to  Him,  who  at  all  such 
crises  in  His  life,  summoned  no  other  angel  to  His  aid 
than  some  such  winged  and  ready  word  of  Scripture. 
Yet  even  these  high  matters  cannot  have  absorbed  the 
disciples' attention,  where  so  many  pagan  sanctuaries  broke 

^  Psalm  xlii-xliii.  The  Land  of  fordan  usually  means  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment the  land  across  Jordan.  The  plural  Heriitons  (not  Hermonites)  must 
refer  to  the  triple  peaks  of  Hermon.  If  these  two  identifications  hold, 
then  the  standpoint  of  the  Psalmist  is  fixed  in  the  corner  between  liermon 
and  Jordan — the  corner  where  Banias  stands.  To  the  two  localities  men- 
tioned, a  third,  the  Hill  Mis'ar,  "lyVD,  is  placed  in  apposition.  It  may- 
mean,  as  it  stands  in  the  text,  Hill  of  Littleness.  But  it  may  also  be  a 
proper  name  ;  and  it  is  at  least  remarkable  that  in  the  same  neighbour- 
hood there  should  be  two  or  three  names  with  the  same  or  kindred  radicals. 
These  are   (i)   Za'ura,  \^^\;    V   often   weakens    to    j    (Wright's    Comp. 

Grammar,  etc.,  pp.  58,  61);  (2)  Wady  Za'arah,  iilc",,  above   Banias;  (3) 

Khurbet  Mezara,  li^I»«.  I  suggest  that  these  may  be  a  reminiscence  of  the 
name  of  a  hill  in  this  district,  called  Mis'ar  ;  and  surely  none  other  would 
have  been  put  by  the  Psalmist  in  apposition  to  the  Ilermons.  Cheyne 
says:  'To  me  this  appendage  to  "Hermonim"  seems  a  poetic  loss. 
Unless  the  little  mountain  has  a  symbolic  meaning  I  could  wish  it  away.'  I 
cannot  see  this ;  the  symbolic  meanings  suggested  for  Hermonim  and 
Mis'ar  are  all  forced,  and  even  if  we  got  a  natural  one,  it  would  be  out  of 
place  after  the  literal  latid  of  for  dan.  To  employ  all  as  proper  names  is 
suitable  to  a  lyric.  Baethgen's  interpretation  (following  Smend)  of  the  Hill 
of  Littleness  as  equal  to  Mount  Sion  in  contrast  to  Mount  Hermon,  and  of 
the  three  factors,  Jordan,  Hermon,  Sion,  as  an  equivalent  to  the  Holy  Land  ; 
and  his  translation,  /  remember  those  far  from  the  land  offordan,  and  the 
Hermotis,  far  from  the  little  hill,  are  also  forced  and  very  improbable. 


478   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  native  beauty  of  the  scene  with  their  insolent  chal- 
lenge, to  all  that  was  best  in  the  Jewish  heart.     That  a 
mere  man,  however  exalted,  should  have  a  temple  built 
to  him,  and  especially  by  a  Jewish  prince,  had 

Christ  and  '  ^  J      J         J  . 

the  worship    filled  Jcwry  with  indignation.     The  little  com- 

Of  Augustus.  -  -  ,        ,  ,1         1         r 

pany  01  wayfarers  must  surely  have  talked  ot 
this  obtrusive  sanctuary.  It  is,  therefore,  very  striking 
that  just  there  and  then  they  emphasised  their  own 
Master's  claims  upon  the  faith  of  mankind,  and  that  the  first 
clear  confession  of  Christ's  divine  Sonship  was  made  near 
the  shrine  in  which  men  already  worshipped  a  fellow-man 
as  God.  These  were  the  two  religions  which  were  shortly 
to  contest  the  world — the  marble  temple  covering  the 
bust  of  an  Emperor,  the  group  of  exiles  round  the  leader, 
whom  His  own  people  had  rejected.  They  appeared  to 
have  this  in  common,  that  they  were  centred  in  indivi- 
duals, that  they  both  responded  to  the  longing  of  the  age 
for  some  embodiment  of  authority,  that  each  of  them  paid 
divine  homage  to  a  man.  Yet,  even  on  that  single  point 
of  resemblance,  there  was  this  distinction  between  them. 
He  in  the  temple  was  only  an  official,  the  temporary 
symbol  of  a  great  power,  to-day's  dispenser  of  its  largess, 
who  to-morrow  would  be  succeeded  by  another.  But  the 
little  band  of  fugitives  outside  clung  to  their  Leader  for 
His  own  eternal  sake.  He  was  the  Kingdom,  He  was  the 
Religion,  everything  lay  for  ever  in  His  character  and  His 
love.  Herod  built  the  temple  to  Augustus  for  the  same 
reason  for  which  he  had  paid  previous  homage  to  Caesar 
and  Antony,  or  for  which  his  children  afterwards  ascribed 
divine  honours  on  this  same  spot  to  Claudius  and  Nero — 
because  each  of  these  for  the  moment  had  all  things  in  his 
gift.     But  it  was  because  they  counted  all  things  but  loss 


The  Jordan  Valley  479 

for  His  sake  that  the  disciples  turned  there  and  then  to 
Christ,  with  a  love  and  allegiance  that  could  never  be 
transferred  to  another,  any  more  than  God  Himself  might 
be  imagined  to  yield  to  a  successor  in  the  faith  of  His 
creatures.  And  again,  while  the  emperor  compelled  allegi- 
ance by  his  rank,  his  splendour,  his  power,  Christ  turned 
that  very  day  from  the  symbol  of  all  this  to  seek  His  king- 
dom by  the  way  of  sacrifice  and  death.  Ye  know  t/iat  the 
rulers  of  the  Gentiles  lord  it  over  them,  and  the  great  impose 
their  authority  upon  them.  .  .  .  The  Son  of  Ma?t  came  not 
to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a 
ra?isom  for  many.  This  was  a  contrast  on  which  Christ 
often  dwelt :  nowhere  can  we  better  value  the  alternative 
which  it  presented  to  that  generation,  than  here  at  Caesarea 
by  the  sources  of  Jordan,  where  we  see  the  apotheosis  of 
the  Gentile  spirit  in  the  temple  raised  to  an  Augustus  by 
the  flattery  of  a  Herod,  and  Christ  with  His  few  disciples 
turning  from  it  to  His  Cross  and  Sacrifice. 

Before  we  leave  this  end  of  the  Jordan  Valley,  we  must 
notice  one  great  function  which  it  has  performed  through- 
out history.      Running  up  into  the  Lebanons, 

Military  his- 

this  long  hollow  is  the  gate  from  the  north  toryofthe 

•    ,       T-,   1        •  1    -r.       •  1-1  r  Upper  Jordan. 

mto  ralestme,  and  Banias,  which  was  a  for- 
tress as  well  as  a  sanctuary,  is  the  key  of  the  gate.  It  is 
true  that  the  entering  in  of  Hamath,  the  other  end  of  the 
pass  through  the  Lebanons,  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  if 
it  were  the  northern  entrance  into  Palestine,  but  it  is 
really  only  the  approach.  Here  in  Dan  lay  the  limit  of 
the  land  of  Israel.  Beyond  were  rugged  indefensible 
mountain  ranges.  If  we  may  compare  the  region  with 
one  much  more  extensive, — the  Lebanons  were  to  Israel, 
for  military  purposes,  what  the  mountains  of  Afghanistan 


480   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

are  to  India,  and  the  great  fortress  at  Banias  below 
Hermon,  on  the  roads  to  Damascus  and  up  the  Beka',  has 
a  position  not  unlike  that  of  Peshavvur,  near  the  entrance 
to  the  Khyber — though  by  the  Syrian  fortress  there 
flows  no  river  like  the  Indus.  Did  an  invader  come  south 
between  the  Lebanons  ?  He  had  to  fight  here  :  the  battle 
by  which  Antiochus  the  Great  won  Palestine  from  the 
Ptolemies  took  place  near  Paneas.^  Nor  could  the 
masters  of  Palestine  hold  the  Upper  Jordan  Valley  except 
at  the  same  time  they  held  Banias.  During  the  Latin 
Kingdom  of  Jerusalem  the  fortress  was  fiercely  contested 
by  Frank  and  Saracen.  Did  the  Franks  take  it — then  the 
rich  valley  was  all  theirs.  Did  the  Saracens  win  it  back, 
then  the  Franks  -  in  their  castle  of  Hunin,  on  the  opposite 
hills  of  Naphtali,  were  obliged  to  arrange  with  them  for  a 
division  of  the  deep  pastures  and  fields  between.  And 
in  the  Ninth  Crusade,  when  an  expedition  of  Louis  of 
France  conquered  all  the  Jordan  Valley,  they  were 
obliged  to  retire  from  it,  because  they  failed  to  capture 
also  the  castle  of  Banias.^ 

It  is  these  frequent  illustrations,  taken  from  all  parts 

of  history,  of  the  impossibility  of  holding  the  meadows  and 

springs  of  the  Upper  Jordan,  without  also  hold- 

Paneas  =  Dan.  .         _,  ,    .  1  1  •    1  1       • 

mg  Banias  and  its  castle,  which  make  it  seem 
probable  that  Leshem  or  Dan  was  the  present  Banias, 
and  not  (in  spite  of  the  name)  Tell-el-Kadi.  If  there  be 
in  this  latter  name,  which  is  doubtful,  some  reminiscence 

■^   198  B.C.  Polybius  xvi.  18  ;  xxviii.  i. 

-  'The  lands  in  the  plain  belong  half  to  the  Franks  and  half  to  the 
Moslem,  and  here  is  the  boundary,  called  "The  Boundary  of  Dividing."' 
Ibn  Jubair  (1185  AD.)  in  Le  Strange,  Pal.  under  Moslems.  418. 

•*  1253  A.D.  De  Joinville,  Memoirs  of  Lotiis  IX.,  Pt.  11.  One  of  the  most 
stirring  accounts  in  all  the  Chronicles  of  the  Crusades. 


TJie  Jo7'dan  Valley  481 

of  the  synonymous  Dan,^  then  it  is  possible  to  suppose 
that  we  have  here,  what  we  have  in  so  many  other  cases, 
the  transference  of  a  name,  a  few  miles  from  its  oriLjinal 
site.  On  all  other  appearances  than  the  shadowy  name, 
Banias,  and  not  Tell-el-Kadi,  is  the  ancient  capital  of  the 
Danites,  the  northern  limit  of  the  land  of  Israel. 

The  rest  of  this  plain  is  of  little  interest.  The  Lake 
of  Huleh  is,  without  doubt,  the  Lake  Semechonitis  of 
Tosephus,-   and    probably  also   the  waters   of 

,         o      -T-1  LakcHulch. 

Merom  of  the  Book  of  Joshua.^  The  open 
water  is  thickly  surrounded  by  swamps  and  jungles  of  the 
papyrus  reed.^  From  the  lower  end  of  the  lake,  the 
Jordan  enters  the  Great  Rift  below  the  level  of  the  sea. 
It  descends  a  narrow  gorge  in  one  almost  continuous 
cascade,  falling  680  feet  in  less  than  nine  miles,  and  then 
through  a  delta  of  its  own  deposits  glides  quietly  into 
the  Lake  of  Galilee.  Six  miles  above  the  lake  it  is 
crossed  by  the  Bridge  of  the  Daughters  of  Jacob,  on 
the  high  road  between  Damascus  and  Galilee.^ 

^  Kadi  =  Dan  =  Judge, 

2  V.  Antt.  V.  I  ;  iii.  Wars,  x.  7  ;  iv.  Wars,  i.  i. 

^  Josh.  xi.  5,  6.  The  name  '  The  Height '  is  suitable  for  a  lake  so  far 
above  the  Lake  of  Galilee  ;  the  neighbourhood  is  possible  for  chariots. 
The  word  '  waters,'  however,  scarcely  suits  a  lake,  and  we  have  really  no 
means  of  identifying  the  scene  of  Joshua's  victory.  The  Onomasticon  puts 
the  water  of  Meppaj/  near  Dothan,  twelve  Roman  miles  from  Scbaste.  The 
origin  of  the  name  Huleh  is  unknown.  The  Lake  might  be  easily  drained  ; 
almost  as  easily  it  might  be  extended,  as  it  seems  once  to  have  been,  to 
the  limits  of  the  plain  ;  cf.  Quaresmius,  Ehicid.  Terr.  Sand.  11.  vii.  ch.  xii. 
fol.  872.  Huleh  is  the  same  name  as  Ulatha  (see  p.  541),  and  the  ND^ 
Xn^tm  of  the  Talmud,  Neubauer,  Gcog.  du  Talmud,  24,  27  flf. 

4  The  best  account  of  the  lake  and  its  surroundings  is  in  Macgregor's.AV/^ 
Roy  on  the  Jordan. 

^  See  p.  427.  For  the  country  between  Huleh  and  the  Lake  of  Galilee 
see  Schumacher,  Z.D.P.  V.  xiii. 

t 

2  II 


482    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


11.  The  Lower  Jordan  :  The  Ghor. 

From  the  Lake  of  Galilee  to  the  Dead  Sea  the  Jordan 

Valley  is  sixty-five  miles  long.     Down  the  west  are  the 

mountains  of  Galilee  and   Samaria,  with  the 

Divisions  and 

names  of  the  great  break  between  them  of  the  Vale  of 
Jezreel.  They  stand  from  800  to  1500  feet 
above  the  valley  floor,  with  higher  ranges  behind.  On 
the  other  side  run  the  hills  of  Gilead,  their  long  flat 
edge  some  2000  feet  above  Jordan,  and  broken  only  by 
the  incoming  valleys  of  the  Yarmuk  and  Jabbok.  Be- 
tween these  two  ranges  the  valley  varies  in  breadth  from 
three  to  fourteen  miles.  For  thirteen  miles  south  of  the 
lake  the  breadth  is  hardly  more  than  four,  then  it  ex- 
pands to  six  or  seven  in  the  Plain  of  Bethshan,  which  rises 
by  terraces  towards  the  level  of  Esdraelon.  Ten  miles 
south  of  Bethshan  the  Samarian  hills  press  eastward, 
and  for  the  next  thirteen  the  river  runs  closely  by  their 
feet,  and  the  valley  is  three  miles  wide.  Again  the 
Samarian  hills  withdraw,  and  the  valley  widens  first  to 
eight  miles  and  then  gradually  to  fourteen,  which  is  the 
breadth  at  Jericho.  What  we  have,  therefore,  between 
Galilee  and  the  Dead  Sea  is  a  long  narrow  vale  twice 
expanding — at  Bethshan  and  Jericho — to  the  dimensions 
of  a  plain.  The  Old  Testament  bestows  on  it  both  of 
the  Hebrew  names  for  valley — Deep  and  Opening.^ 
Greek  writers   call  it  the  Anion  or  Hollow,^  and   Arabs 

pDJ?  of  the  southern  end,  Josh.  xiii.  27  ;  T\'^'\>1  of  the  north  end  under 
Harmon,  Josh.  xi.  17  (LXX.  IleSia)  ;  Josh.  xii.  7  (LXX.  IleSjoj'),  and  of  the 
southern  end  at  Jericho,  Deut.  xxxiv.  3. 

2  kvKihv.     So,   e.g.   Diod.   Sic.   ii.   48.  9  ;  xix.  98.  4  ;  Theophrastus,  Hist. 
Plant,  ii.  6.  8 ;  ix.  6.  i ;  Dioscorides  i.  iS. 


The  Jordan  Valley  483 

El-Ghor,  or  the  Rift.^  But  Joscphus  twice  gives  it  the 
name  of  the  '  Great  Plain,'  which  he  also  applies  to 
Esdraelon.2 

A  large  part  of  this  valley  is  of  exuberant  fertility,  and, 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  the  whole  of  it  might  be  culti- 
vated. The  Jordan  itself  runs  in  too  deep  a  Fertility  of 
channel  to  be  easily  useful  for  irrigation,  but  *^^  *^^^''- 
a  number  of  its  affluents  from  both  sides  offer  abundant 
moisture  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  Some  of 
these  springs  and  brooks,  rising  far  below  the  level  of 
the  ocean,  and  in  soil  impregnated  with  chlorides  and 
sodium,  are  bitter  and  often  warm.  In  many  parts  there 
are  mounds  and  ridges  of  grey  marl,  salt  and  greasy,  with 
stretches  of  gravel,  sand,  clay,  and  other  debris  of  an  old 
sea-bottom,  that  assume  the  weirdest  shapes,  and  give  a 
desolate  aspect  to  the  vale.  But  notwithstanding  all  this 
poison,  vegetation  is  extremely  rank,  especially  in  spring. 
The  heat  is  of  a  forcing-house.  Wherever  water  comes, 
the  flowers  rise  to  the  knee,  and  herbage  often  to  the 
shoulder.^  The  drier  stretches  are  covered  by  broom  or 
intricate  thorn-bush  ;  by  all  the  streams  there  are  brakes 
of  cane  and  oleander.  The  streams  dash  violently  down  to 
the  Jordan,  tearing  up  the  surface  of  the  country  by  their 
spring  floods  and  heaping  across  flowers  and  grass  the 

^  Once  in  its  whole  extent,  iv.  Wars,  viii.  2  :  t6  m^T^  ireSioi'  KoXelrai  &irb 
KU/J.71S  Tivva^plv  (at  the  south  end  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee)  SiriKov  n^xpi-  t^s 
'Aa<l}aXTLTL8os  XI/xvtis  ;  and  once  at  Jericho,  iv.  AnU.  vi.  i,  eVi  t6i>  'Iopddvr)v 
Kara  rb  fiiya  irediov  'lepixodvros  avTiKpv.  It  is  probably  to  the  Jordan  Valley 
that  the  same  name  refers  in  i  Mace.  v.  52,  though  it  may  be  the  beginning 
of  Esdraelon  that  is  meant.  It  was,  perhaps,  in  such  an  ambiguity  that  the 
name  was  transferred  from  Esdraelon,  which  it  wholly  suits,  to  the  Jordan 
Valley,  that  is  not  so  accurately  described  by  it.  In  i  Mace.  xvi.  11,  rb 
TTfdiov  'lepix^.  '  Conder,  T.  IV.  225-228. 


484   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

loosened  marl  and  the  ruin  of  cane-brake.  Swamps 
abound,  and  there  is  much  malaria.  Towards  Jericho 
the  vegetation  grows  less  and  less  rank — a  plain  of  thorn- 
groves  with  a  swamp  or  two,  and  then  the  ground  breaks 
away,  discoloured  or  crusted  with  salt,  and  bearing  only 
a  few  succulent  plants,  to  the  shingly  beach  and  blue 
waters  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Although  there  is  so  much 
fertility,  the  stretches  of  sour  soil,  the  unhealthy  jungle, 
the  obtrusive  marl,  and  the  parched  hillsides  out  of  reach 
of  the  streams,  justify  the  Hebrew  name  of  the  'Arabah 
or  Desert.^  In  the  New  Testament  also  the  Valley  is 
called  a  Wilderness.^ 

Down  this  broad  valley  there  curves  and  twists  a 
deeper,  narrower  bed — perhaps  150  feet  deeper,^  and 
from  200  yards  to  a  mile  broad.  Its  banks  are  mostly 
The  Pride  '^^  white  marl,  and  within  these  it  is  packed 
ofjorda7i.  ^^\\\^  tamarisks  and  other  semi-tropical  trees 
and  tangled  bush.  To  those  who  look  down  from  the 
hills  along  any  great  stretch  of  the  valley,  this  Zor,  as  it 
is  called,  trails  and  winds  Hke  an  enormous  green  serpent, 
more  forbidding  in  its  rankness  than  any  open  water 
could  be,  however  foul  or  broken.  This  jungle  marks  the 
Jordan's  wider  bed,  the  breadth  to  which  the  river  rises 
when  in  flood.  In  the  Old  Testament  it  appears  as  the 
Pride  of  Jordan,  and  always  as  a  symbol  of  trouble  and 
danger.  Though  in  a  land  of  peace  thou  be  secure,  what 
wilt  thou  do  in  the  Pride  of  Jordan  ?  He  shall  come  up  like 
a  lion  from  the  Pride  of  fordan.^  It  was  long  supposed 
that  this  referred  to  the  spring  floods  of  the  river,  and  it 

^  nmy  also  in  the  plural  in  connection  with  certain  districts.  The 
'Araboth  of  Moab  and  of  Jericho.  "  Mark  i.  cf.  4  and  5. 

"  Conder  reckons  150  feet  deeper  at  Beisan,  T.  W.  215  ;  and  200  feet  at 
Jericho,  ib.  216.  *  Jer.  xii.  5  ;  xlix.  19  ;  1.  44. 


The  Jo7'dan  Valley  485 

is  given  in  the  English  version  as  szvelling,  but  the  word 
means  pride,  and  as  one  text  speaks  of  the  pride  of 
Jordan  being  spoiled}  the  phrase  most  certainly  refers  to 
the  jungle,  whose  green  serpentine  ribbon  looks  so  rich 
from  the  hills  above.  In  that  case  we  ought  to  translate 
it  the  luxuriance  or  rankness  of  Jordan.  Though  lions 
have  ceased  from  the  land,  this  jungle  is  still  a  covert  for 
wild  beasts,  and  Jeremiah's  contrast  of  it  with  a  land  of 
peace  is  even  more  suitable  to  a  haunted  jungle  than  to 
an  inundation.  But  it  is  floods  which  have  made  the 
rankness,  they  fill  this  wider  bed  of  Jordan  every  year;^ 
and  the  floor  of  the  jungle  is  covered  with  deposits  of 
mud  and  gravel,  with  dead  weed,  driftwood  and  the 
exposed  roots  of  trees. 

Penetrating  this  unhealthy  hollow  you  come  soon  to 
the  Jordan  itself.  Remember  that  it  is  but  a  groove  in 
the  bottom  of  an  old  sea-bed,  a  ditch  as  deep  r^^^  ^j^g^. 
below  the  level  of  the  ocean  as  some  of  our  ^'^^• 
coal-mines  are,  and  you  will  be  prepared  for  the  uncouth- 
ness  of  the  scene.  There  is  no  yellow  marl  by  the  river 
itself.  Those  heaps  and  ridges,  which  in  higher  parts  of 
the  valley  look  like  nothing  but  the  refuse  of  a  chemical 
manufactory,  have  here  all  been  washed  away.  But  there 
are  hardly  less  ugly  mudbanks,  from  two  to  twenty-five 
feet  high,  with  an  occasional  bed  of  shingle,  that  is  not 
clean  and  sparkling  as  in  our  own  rivers,  but  foul  with 
ooze  and  slime.  Dead  driftwood  is  everywhere  in  sight. 
Large  trees  lie  about,  overthrown  :  and  the  exposed  roots 
and  lower  trunks  of  the  trees  still  standing  are  smeared 


*  Zech.  xi.  3. 

-Jordan  overfloweth  his  banks  all  the  time  of  harvest,  i.e.  in  April,  Josh, 
iii.  iv.     'Abound  as  Jordan  in  the  time  of  harvest,'  Ecclesiasticus  xxiv.  26. 


486   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

with  mud,  except  where  they  have  been  recently  torn  by 
passing  wreckage.  There  are,  however,  some  open  spaces, 
where  the  \\srex  flashes  to  the  hills  above  and  an  easy  path 
is  possible  to  its  edge.  But  in  the  lower  reaches  this  is 
mostly  where  the  earth  is  too  salt  to  sustain  vegetation, 
and  so  it  may  be  said  that  the  Jordan  sweeps  to  the 
Dead  Sea  through  unhealthy  jungle  relieved  only  by 
poisonous  soil. 

The  river  itself  is  from  90  to  100  feet  broad,  a  rapid, 
muddy  water  with  a  zigzag  current.  The  depth  varies 
from  3  feet  at  some  fords  ^  to  as  much  as  10  or  12.  In 
the  sixty-five  miles  the  descent  is  610  feet,  or  an  average 

^,     .  of  9  feet  a  mile — not  a  great  fall,  for  the  Spey. 

The  river.  *="  i     ./  > 

and  the  Dee  from  Balmoral  to  Aberdeen  both 
average  about  14  feet  a  mile.  But  near  the  Lake  of 
Galilee  the  fall  is  over  40  feet  a  mile,^  and  this  impetus 
given  to  a  large  volume  of  water,  down  a  channel  in  which 
it  cannot  sprawl,  and  few  rocks  retard,  induces  a  great 
rapidity  of  current.  This  has  given  the  river  its  name : 
Jordan  means  the  Down-comer.  The  swiftness  is  rendered 
more  dangerous  by  the  muddy  bed  and  curious  zigzag 
current  which  will  easily  sweep  a  man  from  the  side  into 
the  centre  of  the  stream.  In  April,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
waters  rise  to  the  wider  bed,  but  for  the  most  part  of  the 
year  they  keep  to  the  channel  of  90  feet.  Here,  with  in- 
frequent interruptions  of  shingle,  mostly  silent  and  black 
in  spite  of  its  speed,  but  now  and  then  breaking  into  praise 
and    whitening   into  foam,  Jordan   scours  along,  muddy 


^  M.  Le  Strange  crossed  after  heavy  rain  at  a  ford  near  Beisan,  where  the 
water  'scarcely  reached  the  bellies  of  the  horses.'  A  Ride  through  AJlun, 
etc.,  appended  to  Schumacher's  Across  the  Jordan. 

2  Conder,  T.W.  215. 


The  Jordan  Valley  4B7 

between  banks  of  mud,  careless  of  beauty,  careless  of  life, 
intent  only  upon  its  own  work,  which  for  ages  by  the 
decree  of  the  Almighty  has  been  that  of  separation. 

Most  rivers,  in  valleys  so  wide  and  well  watered,  mean 
the  presence  of  great  cities,  or  at  least  of  much  cultivation. 
But   the  valley   of  the  Jordan    never    seems 

Fertility  and 

to  have  been  a  populous  place.^     Some  towns  population  of 

.       .  tlic  valley. 

were  built  m  it,  and  gardens  were  numerous. 
Jericho,  we  have  seen,^  was  a  very  flourishing  region, 
especially  in  the  hands  of  the  Romans  who  knew  how  to 
irrigate.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  continuous  forest  of 
palms  all  the  way  hence  to  Phasaelis.^  Farther  up  the 
valley  at  Kurawa,  there  are  fertile  fields,  and  the  richness 
of  the  country  round  Bcthshan  is  evident.*  The  whole  of 
this  side  of  the  valley  was  famed,  throughout  the  ancient 
world,  for  its  corn,  dates,  balsam,^  flax  and  other  products." 
The  early  Christian  pilgrims  also  lavish  praise:  the  Arab 
geographers  of  the  eighth  to  the  twelfth  centuries  imply 
that  there  is  still  fertility  in  the  Ghor.  They  speak 
especially  of  the  sugar  of  Bethshan  and  Kurawa ;  and 
the  Crusaders  found  sugar  growing  in  Jericho.^  On  the 
eastern  side  of  the  valley  there   was   the   large   town  of 


^  Cf.  Pliny,  H.N.  v.  15  :  '  accolis  invitum  se  praebet.' 

'  Ch.  xiii.  p.  266.  2  See  p.  354.  *  Josephus. 

■'  Cf.  Le  Strange,  op.  cit.  270. 

^  Polybius,  V.  70,  says  that  the  district  between  Bethshan  and  the  Lake 
of  Galilee  could  support  an  army,  and  there  we  know  Vespasian  settled 
his  Legions.  On  the  balsam,  Diodorus  Siculus  ii.  48.  9,  xix.  98.  4. 
Dioscorides  i.  18.  On  the  dates  and  general  fertility  of  Jericho,  Archelais 
and  Phasaelis,  Pliny,  H.N.  v.  15  (14),  Strabo  xvi.  ii.  41.  For  the  linen  of 
Bethshan,  etc.,  the  anonymous  Totius  Orbis  Descriptio  in  the  Geogr.  Gr. 
minores,  Ed.  Muller,  ii.  513  ff. 

■^  Cf.  Le  Strange's  Pal.  tinder  Moslem,  53.  Rey,  Les  Colon.  Franques, 
p.  386.     The  name  'sugar-mills'  still  attaches  to  some  ruins  at  Jericho. 


488    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Livias  or  Julias  opposite  Jericho/  immediately  north  of 
that  some  smaller  towns,  with  the  city  of  Adam  perhaps 
at  the  present  Tell  Damieh  and  Succoth  at  Tell  Der'ala, 
but  after  these,  till  the  Yarmuk  is  reached,  nothing  except 
some  nameless  villages, — unless  Pella,  which  lay  on  the  first 
terraces  above  the  Valley,  be  reckoned  to  the  latter.  The 
great  number  of  mounds,  some  of  which  have  been  found 
to  consist  of  sun-dried  bricks,^  are  probably  the  remains 
not  of  cities  but  of  old  brick-fields.  The  clay  of  the  Jordan 
Valley  was  good  for  moulding,  and  Solomon  placed  in  it 
his  brass  foundries  for  the  building  of  the  Temple.^  But, 
from  this  absence  of  cities  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  it 
must  not  be  supposed  that  the  land  is  not  cultivable.  Be- 
tween the  Yarmuk  and  Pella,  sufficient  streams  break  from 
Gilead  to  irrigate  the  whole  region,  the  remains  of  ancient 
aqueducts  are  visible,  and  even,  without  elaborate  irrigation, 
the  few  small  villages  reap  to-day  good  harvests  of  grain.* 
All  up  the  east  of  the  river,  you  come  across  patches  of 
cultivation,  the  property  of  various  Bedawee  tribes  on  the 

•^  On  the  site  of  Beth-haram  or  Beth-haran  (Josh.  xiii.  27  ;  Num.  xxxii.  36) 
the  (37jdapd/x(pdd  of  Josephus  (ii.  IVars,  iv.  2)  where  Herod  had  a  palace ; 
^7]0pafx(f>dd,  according  to  Euseb.  but  Jerome  spells  Betharam  {Onoinasticon). 
He  says  it  was  called  Livias  by  Herod,  i.e.  Antipas,  in  honour  of  the  wife  of 
Augustus,  but  Josephus  states  that  its  name  was  Julias  (xviii.  Antt.  ii.  i  ;  ii. 
Wars,  ix.  i).  Livias  was  the  older  name,  as  the  Emperor's  wife  was  re- 
ceived into  the  gens  Julia  only  by  his  testament  (see  Schiirer,  Hist.  il.  i.  142). 
Placidus,  a  lieutenant  of  Vespasian,  held  it  in  68  f.  (iv.  Wars,  vii.  6  ;  viii.  2). 
Theodosius,  a.d.  530,  De  Sihi  Terrae  Sanctae,  65  {P.P.  7.  p.  14)  describes  it 
as  twelve  miles  from  Jericho  near  warm  springs.  He  also  calls  it  Livias.  It 
is  the  present  Tell  er-Rameh. 

2  By  Sir  Charles  Warren.     See  Conder,  T.  IV.  220,221. 

^  This  was,  of  course,  in  the  west  of  Jordan  at  Zarthan,  i  Kings  vii.  46. 
}mX  probably  the  Zarthan  of  Josh.  iii.  16,  beside  the  city  of  Adam. 

■*  We  passed  over  this  district  in  189 1,  and  were  surprised  at  the  many  signs 
of  cultivation,  the  great  piles  of  corn  in  the  few  villages,  and  the  old  aque- 
ducts;  cf.  Pella,  18,  ig. 


The  Jordan  Valley  489 

highlands  to  the  east.^  The  dews  are  as  heavy  as  in  other 
parts  of  the  land  :  the  heat  is  tropical.  The  '  Arabah,  then, 
in  spite  of  its  name,  was  once  very  largely  cultivated,  and 
by  simple  methods  of  irrigation,  drawn  from  the  affluents 
of  the  Jordan,  might  again  become  a  rich  and  fruitful 
land.2  The  opening  of  the  railway  to  Bethshan  may 
be  the  beginning  of  another  era,  like  that  in  which  the 
fame  of  the  fruits  of  the  Jordan  went  out  over  the  world.^ 
Under  a  good  Government  dates,  rice,  sugar,  flax,  cotton 
and  many  more  commodities  might  be  grown  in  great 
abundance. 

Why,  then,  have  towns  always  been  so  few  in  the 
valley  ?  and  why  has  it  so  much  deserved  the  name  of 
wilderness  ?  The  reasons  are  three.  From  -pj^g  ^^^^ 
early  spring  to  late  autumn  the  heat  is  intoler-  *^^^'- 
able,  and  parches  all  vegetation  not  constantly  watered. 
At  Pclla  and  opposite  Jericho  we  found  the  temperature 
in  July  at  104° ;  it  has  been  known  to  rise  in  August  to 
118°.*  The  Arabs  of  the  Ghor,  the  Ghawarineh,  are  a 
sickly  and  degenerate  race.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
that  the  Israelites  who  possessed  the  hills  on  either  side 
should  prefer  to  build  their  cities  there,  descending  to  the 
valley  only  for  the  purposes  of  sowing  and  reaping  their 
harvests.  This  is  what  many  Samarian  villages  now  do,^  as 
well  as  the  Bedouin  of  Moab  and  the  peasants  of  Gilead. 

^  For  the  northern  end,  see  Schumacher,  The  /auldit,  p.  148.  The  'Advvan 
cultivate,  or  have  cultivated  for  them,  some  parts  of  the  southern  valley.  When 
we  visited  their  main  camp  near  Heshbon,  'Ali  Diab,  their  chief,  with  a 
number  of  the  men  were  absent  securing  their  grain  in  the  Jordan  Valley. 

"  Cf.  Le  Strange,  op.  cit.  270. 

3  The  present  Sultan  of  Turkey  has  bought,  for  his  private  estate,  a  very 
large  part  of  the  valley.     We  met  his  servants  in  several  parts  of  it. 

4  Conder,  T.  IV. 

^  Cf.  Robinson,  Z.i?.     So  we  found  with  the  'Adwan  Bedouin. 


490   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Again,  in  ancient  times  the  valley  was  infested  with  wild 
beasts.     The  extirpation  of  these  formed  one  of  the  most 

The  wild      serious  difficulties  in  Israel's  conquest  of  the 

beasts.  country.^  But  their  covert  and  stronghold  was 
the  jungle  of  the  Jordan  ;  driven  from  the  rest  of  the 
land  they  were  secure  here,  and  bred  so  fast  that,  as  soon 
as  any  of  the  neighbouring  provinces  was  deprived  of  its 
population,  they  quickly  overran  it.^  Of  these,  lions  are 
the  most  often  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament.^  There 
are  no  lions  to-day, — the  last  of  them  was  seen  eight 
hundred  years  ago,* — but  wild  boars  abound,  and  there 
are  leopards  and  a  kind  of  wolf.^ 

A  still    more  serious   hindrance   to  the  settlement  of 

population  in  the  Jordan  Valley  was  the  frequency  with 

which  it  was  overrun  by  the  Arabs.     There 

The  Arabs.  ,,,._,         ,  , 

were  no  towns  on  the  level  of  Esdraelon  ;  there 
were  none  in  the  'Arabah,  and  in  both  cases  for  the  same 
reason,  that  no  strong  site  existed  in  either  of  these 
channels  capable  of  resisting  the  desert  swarms  which 
poured  through  them.  Even  the  Herods  did  not  attempt 
to  fortify  Archelais  or  Phasaelis,  which  were  only  villages  ; 
and  neither  Jericho  nor  Bethshan  ever  successfully  sus- 
tained a  siege. 

We  must,  therefore,  seek  for  the  role  of  this  valley  in 
history,  in  another  direction  than  that  along  which  its 
possible  fertility  points  us.     We  find  it  in  two  functions : 

(i)  The  Jordan  was  a  border  and  barrier.    We  have  seen 

^  Deut.  vii.  22;  xxxii.  24;  Lev.  xxvi.  6,  22;  cf.  Gen.  xxxi.  39,  that 
which  was  torn  of  beasts  ;  Exod.  xxii.  31;  Lev.  vii.  24 ;  xvii.  15;  xxii.  8; 
Amos  v.  19 ;  Hosea  ii.  18  ;  xiii.  7  f.  ;  Isa.  xi.  6  f.,  etc. 

"  2  Kings  xvii.  25.  ^  /^/^, ;  jer.  xlix.  19. 

*  Many  early  pilgrims  speak  of  them  ;  the  last  was  the  Abbot  Daniel, 
1 100.  5  Conder  saw  a  wolf,  T.  W. 


The  Jordan  Valley  491 

how  the  river  itself  tells  us  this  by  the  depth  of  its 
valley,  its  unuseful,  unlovely  course,  its  muddy  banks 
and  their  rank  jungle.  And  so  we  find  it  appreciated  in 
literature.  With  few  exceptions  the  references  to  Jordan 
in  the   Old  Testament  are  geographical  and 

Jordan  in  the 

prosaic  ;  the   Psalmist  hears  in  it  no  music ;    Old  lesta- 

1  1  r   •  1  ment. 

the  prophet  speaks  only  of  its  rankness  and 
danger  ;  it  excites  the  ridicule  of  those  who  know  its 
sister  Syrian  rivers  ;  ^  the  exiles  by  Babel's  streams  think 
not  upon  Jordan's  rush  of  water  but  upon  the  arid 
Jerusalem  ;  and  when  a  symbol  is  needed  of  the  water  of 
life  the  Psalmist  ignores  his  country's  only  river,  and 
floods  for  his  purpose  the  dry  bed  of  the  Kedron.^  Jordan 
was  only  a  boundary,  a  line  to  traverse,  and,  in  nearly  all 
of  the  texts  in  which  the  name  occurs,  it  is  governed  by  a 
preposition,  unto,  over,  across.^ 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  military  value  of  such  a 
frontier.  Like  other  border  rivers  the  Jordan  has  been 
often  and  easily  crossed,  but,  unlike  them,  there  ^g  a  military 
do  not  appear  to  have  been — below  the  Lake  ^'°"^'^'"- 
of  Galilee  at  least — any  serious  attempts  to  defend  it. 
In  the  time  of  the  Judges  the  fords  were  watched  to 
prevent  the  escape  of  fugitives,^  and  once  the  Maccabees 
had  a  battle  on  the  river.^  But,  in  the  greatest  invasion 
of  all,  Israel  crossed  unopposed,  and  in  her  turn  offered  no 

^  2  Kings  iv. 

2  There  is  a  river  whose  streams  do  glad  the  city  of  our  God,  Ps.  xlvi. 

3  Jordan  as  a  border,  Gen.  xxxii.  lo ;  Deut.  iii.  20 ;  xxvii.  4  ;  Josh.  i.  2  ; 
Num.  xxxiv.  10-12.     It  is  Ezckiel's  border,  xlvii.  18. 

*  Judges  vii.  24,  by  Ephraim  against  Midian  ;  xii.  5,  by  Gilead  against 
Ephraim. 

5  Circa  160;  I  Mace.  ix.  32-49.  The  tactics  are  not  clear.  The  fight 
seems  to  have  been  on  the  west  bank,  and  the  only  use  of  the  river  was  that 
made  by  the  Jewish  troops  in  swimming  it  so  as  to  escape  from  the  Syrians. 


492    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

opposition  on  Jordan  either  to  Syrians,  who  came  over 
just  below  the  lake,  or  to  Arabs  or  Moabites  farther  south. 
David  did  not  seek  to  check  Absalom's  crossing-,  nor  the 
Byzantines  that  of  the  Arabs,  nor  the  Crusaders  that  of 
Saladin,  nor  Napoleon  that  of  the  Turks.^  Nor  was  the 
Arab  drift  into  Western  Palestine  ever  checked  by  the 
river,  but  only  by  a  settled  government  to  the  east  of 
it.  In  short,  at  no  period  whatsoever  has  the  eastern 
defence  of  the  land  been  laid  down  along  Jordan  ;  nor 
has  the  river  been  always  a  boundary  between  different 
states.  Northern  Israel  lay  on  both  sides  of  it,  and  in 
later  days  Perea  was  counted  with  Judaea.  Is  then  the 
frontier  influence  of  Jordan  entirely  a  reflection  of  the 
spiritual  symbolism  to  which  subsequent  events  exalted 
the  river?  This  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  so  in  face  of  the 
following  facts.  Moses  dreaded  the  separation  that  Jordan 
would  cause  between  the  tribes  left  to  the  east  of  it  and 
those  who  crossed.^  To  early  Israel  the  crossing  of  Jordan 
was  as  great  a  crisis  as  the  crossing  of  the  Red  Sea.^ 
When  David  was  made  King  in  Hebron,  it  was  Eastern 
Palestine  which  Abner  chose  for  the  rallying  of  Israel 
round  Saul's  house,*  and  David  himself  fled  there  when 
Absalom  raised  Judah  against  him.^  There  are  a  hundred 
other  passages  in  the  Old  Testament,  taken  from  the 
everyday  speech  of  the  people,  which  prove  how  separating 
an  influence  they  felt  in  that  deep  gulf  with  its  super- 

^  That  is  below  the  Lake  of  Galilee.  On  the  north,  where  the  Turks  had 
crossed  by  the  Jisr  Benat  Jakob  and  besieged  Safed,  Murat  raised  the  siege 
and  drove  them  across  the  river  again,  and  on  the  south  all  the  fighting  was 
done  west  of  Jordan,  at  the  heights  of  Lubieh  and  then  on  Esdraelon.  The 
Turkish  army,  however,  was  cut  off  from  Damascus  after  it  crossed  Jordan, 
and  found  a  new  base  at  Nablus. 

^  Num.  xxxii.  6  ff.  s  pg^  cxiv.  3,  etc. 

*  2  Sam.  ii.  8  ff.  ^  Id.  xv.,  xvi. 


The  Jordan  Valley  493 

heated  airs,  its  jungle  and  its  rapid  river.^  And  we  have 
but  to  compare  the  Jordan  with  another  river  which 
fiows  in  a  line  with  itself,  the  Orontes,  to  see  that,  from 
whatever  reason,  the  former  was  a  real,  effective  frontier 
between  the  nomad  and  the  agriculturist,  between  east 
and  west,  to  a  degree  never  reached  by  the  latter.  Perhaps 
this  effectiveness  did  not  consist  so  much  in  shutting  out 
invaders  from  the  East  as  in  giving  to  such  of  them  as 
drifted  over  the  river  a  visible  and  impressive  reason  why 
they  should  not  return.  All  down  Israel's  history  it  is 
certain  that  the  people  knew  themselves  to  be  cut  off 
from  the  East,  that  their  land  felt  under  them  no  more  a 
part  of  Arabia,  and  that  they  themselves  trod  it  with  the 
consciousness  of  another  and  a  higher  destiny  than  that 
of  the  Arab  tribes  from  whom  they  finally  broke  away 
when  they  passed  over  Jordan.  In  this  moral  effect  upon 
the  national  consciousness  the  Jordan  and  its  strange 
valley  exerted  an  influence,  beside  which  mere  military 
strength,  if  it  had  been  present,  would  have  been  quite 
insignificant. 

(2)  Jordan  has  not  only  been  associated  with  the  figures 
of  two  of  Israel's  greatest  prophets — Elijah  and  John  the 
Baptist — but  with  the  bestowal,  at  their  hands,  of  the 
Spirit  upon  their  successors. 

We  are  not  to  be  surprised  that  as  his  end  approached 
Elijah    should    feel    himself    driven    towards 
that  border,  across  which  he  had   first  burst    Eiishaon 
so  mysteriously  upon  Israel,^  and  to  which  he 
had  withdrawn  while  waiting  for  his  word  to  accomplish 

^  The  frequency  of  the  phrase  across  Jordan,  and  such  names  as  the 
Mountains  of  the  'Abarim,  i.e.  Those  on  the  other  side. 

-  He  was  from  Thisbe,  undiscovered,  in  Gilead.  In  I  Kings  xvii.  i  read 
with  the  LXX.  and  Hebrew  text,  Elijahil  the  Tishbite  frovi  Tis  hbe  of  Gilea 


494   ^-^^  Histoincal  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

itself.^  Stage  by  stage  he  came  down  from  the  high  centre 
of  the  land  to  its  lowest,  lonely,  crumbling  shelves.^  Ta?Ty 
here,  I  pray  thee,  for  the  Lord  hath  se^tt  me  to  Beth-el  .  .  .  to 
Jericho  .  .  .  to  Jordan.  But  at  each  stage  Elisha  said, 
As  the  Lord  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul  liveth,  I  will  not  leave 
thee;  and  when  the  little  communities  of  prophets  came 
out  and  said,  Knowest  thou  that  the  Lord  will  take  away  thy 
master  from  thy  head  to-day  "i  he  answered,  I  also  know  it, 
hold  ye  your  peace.  So  these  two,  leaving  the  sons  of  the 
prophets  behind,  passed  down  the  falling  land  as  the  great 
planets  pass  to  their  setting  through  the  groups  of  lesser 
stars.  The  mountains  of  The-Other-Side  filled  the  view 
ahead  of  them,  and  in  these  mountains  lay  the  sepulchre 
of  Moses.  He,  who  in  his  helplessness  had  already  fled 
for  new  inspiration  to  Horeb,  could  not  fail  to  wonder 
whether  God  was  to  lay  him  to  rest  beside  his  forerunner 
on  Nebo.  In  front  there  was  no  promised  land  visible — 
nothing  but  that  high  sky-line  eastward  with  the  empty 
heaven  above  it.  Behind  there  was  no  nation  waiting  to 
press  into  the  future — nothing  but  that  single  follower 
who  persisted  in  following  to  the  end.  And  so,  the  story 
tells  us,  the  end  came.  The  river  that  had  drawn  back  at 
a  nation's  feet,  parted  at  the  stroke  of  one  man,  and  as  he 
suddenly  passed  away  to  the  God  from  whom  he  had 
suddenly  come,  it  was  one  man  whom  he  acknowledged 
as  his  heir,  and  to  whom  he  left  his  spirit.     Realise  these 

^  I  Kings  xvii.  3,  Ttirn  thee  eastward  and  hide  tltyself  by  the  brook  Kerith, 
•which  is  on  Jace  of  Jordan.  This  last  phrase,  which  in  conformity  with 
Hebrew  terms  of  orientation,  we  must  translate  east  of  Jordan,  exchides  the 
Wady  Kelt  behind  Jericho,  and  Kerith  must  be  sought  for  in  Gilead,  where, 
however,  the  name  has  not  yet  been  discovered. 

"  2  Kings  ii.  The  Gilgal  is  not  that  beside  Jericho,  but  that  near  the  high 
road  between  Bethel  and  Shechem,  the  present  Jiljilia,  2441  feet  above  the 
sea  and  over  3700  above  Jordan. 


The  Jordan  Valley  495 

two  lonely  figures  standing  in  that  unpeopled  wilderness, 
the  state  invisible,  the  Church  left  behind  in  impotent 
gaze  and  wonder,  and  nothing  passing  between  these  two 
men  except  from  the  one  the  tribute  to  personal  worth, 
and  from  the  other  the  influence  of  personal  spirit  and 
force — realise  all  this  on  the  lonely  bank  of  Jordan,  and 
you  understand  the  beginnings  of  prophecy — the  new  dis- 
pensation in  which  the  instrument  of  the  Most  High  was  to 
be  not  the  State  and  its  laws,  not  the  army  and  its  victories, 
not  even  the  Church  and  her  fellowship,  but  the  spirit  of  the 
individual  man.  Not  in  vain  does  the  story  tell  us  that  it 
was  with  his  mantle,  symbol  above  all  things  of  the  Prophet, 
that  Elijah  smote  the  waters,  and  that  Elisha  smote  them 
the  second  time  on  his  return  to  his  ministry.  Jordan, 
that  had  owned  the  People  of  God,  owns  now  the  Prophet. 

Elisha  is  represented  as  the  first  in  Israel  to  employ  the 
river  for  sacramental  purposes.  He  said  unto  Naaman 
the  leper.  Go  and  wash  hi  Jordan  seven  times,  and  thy  flesli 
shall  come  agahi  to  thee,  and  thoii  shall  be  clean.  We  do 
not  again  read  of  Jordan  being  thus  used. 

(3)  It  must  have  been  these  two  events  which  determined 
John  the  Baptist's  choice  of  the  theatre  of  his  ministry. 
He  found  here  both  of  his  requisites,  solitude  j^j^^  ^^^  3 
and  much  water.  He  found  also  those  vivid  ^'^"^ '"  Jordan, 
figures  of  his  preaching — the  slimy  shingle,  of  which  he  said, 
God  is  able  to  raise  up  of  these  stoftes  children  to  Abraham  ; 
the  trees  with  the  axe  laid  to  their  roots,  for  the  Jordan 
jungle  was  a  haunt  of  woodcutters;^  and,  on  the  higher 
stretches  of  the  valley,  the  fires  among  the  dry  scrub 
chasing  before  them  the  scorpions  and  vipers.-     But  chiefly 

1  Cf.  2  Kings  vi.  i  ff. 

*  Cf.  on  some  of  these  and  others,  Stanley,  Sin.  and  Pal. 


496    The  Historical  Geog7'apky  of  the  Holy  Land 

must  it  have  been  the  memories  of  Ehjah  and  EHsha 
which  came  upon  John  and  the  crowds  that  listened  to 
him.  Israel's  only  river  had  by  these  prophets  been 
consecrated  to  the  two  acts  most  symbolic  of  religion — 
the  washing  by  water  and  the  gift  of  the  Spirit.  And 
now  where  Elisha  bade  Naaman  bathe  his  leprosy  away, 
John  called  on  Israel  to  wash  and  be  clean  :  where  Elijah 
bequeathed  his  spirit,  ere  he  was  lifted  from  earth,  John, 
too,  towards  the  close  of  his  ministry,  was  to  meet  and 
own  his  successor.  But  it  was  no  Elisha  who  came  to 
take  his  sign  from  this  second  Elijah.  There  cometh  He 
that  is  viigJitier  than  I  after  me,  the  latchet  of  whose  shoes 
I  am  not  luorthy  to  stoop  down  and  unloose.  I  indeed  have 
baptized  you  with  zvater,  but  He  shall  baptize  you  with  the 
Holy  Ghost.  .  .  .  Ajid  Jesus  was  baptized  of  John  in  Jordan, 
and  straightway  coining  up  out  of  the  water  he  saw  the 
heavens  rending,  and  the  Spirit,  like  a  dove,  descending  upon 
Him ;  and  there  came  a  voice  from  heaven.  Thou  art  My 
beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased? 

And  so  what  was  never  a  great  Jewish  river  has  become 
a  very  great  Christian  one. 

^  The  place  of  our  Saviour's  baptism  is  quite  uncertain.  The  traditional 
site  is  at  the  Makhadet  Hajle.  The  Bethabara,  where  the  Baptist  is  said 
by  some  Mss.  of  the  Gospel  of  John  (i.  28)  to  have  been  baptizing  about  the 
time  that  Jesus  came  to  him,  is  placed  by  Conder  at  the  ford  'Abarah,  just 
north  of  Beisan  ( T.  IV.  230).  But  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  a  name  like 
that,  meaning  ferfy,  or  crossing,  ox  ford  (see  p.  337),  probably  occurred 
more  than  once  down  the  river.  The  other,  and  more  authentic  reading, 
Bethany,  is  offered  by  Conder  as  a  proof  of  the  nearness  of  the  place  of  baptism 
to  Bashan.  There  is,  however,  no  argument,  only  a  suggestion.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  proofs  which  the  author  of  Supernattiral  Religion  bases  on  the 
word  Bethany  against  the  Evangelist's  knowledge  of  Palestine  only  reveal 
his  own  ignorance  both  of  the  possibilities  of  the  country  in  which  many 
Bethanys  may  easily  have  Iain,  and  of  the  rest  of  the  Gospel,  the  writer 
of  which  expressly  states  that  he  knew  the  other  Bethany  near  Jerusalem 
(xi.  18). 


CHAPTER    XXIII 
THE    DEAD    SEA 


2  I 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Maps  I.,  Til.  and  IV. 


THE  DEAD  SEA 

PERHAPS  there  is  no  region  of  our  earth  where 
Nature  and  History  have  more  cruelly  conspired, 
where  so  tragic  a  drama  has  obtained  so  awful  a  theatre. 
In  many  other  parts  of  the  world  the  effect  of  historical 
catastrophes  has  been  heightened  by  their  occurrence 
amid  scenes  of  beauty  and  peace.  It  is  otherwise  here. 
Nature,  when  she  has  not  herself  been,  by  some  volcanic 
convulsion,  the  executioner  of  God's  judgments,  has  added 
every  aggravation  of  horror  to  the  cruelty  of  the  human 
avenger  or  the  exhaustion  of  the  doomed.  The  history  of 
the  Dead  Sea  opens  with  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  may 
be  said  to  close  with  the  Massacre  of  Masada. 

The  previous  chapter  has  described  the  formation  of  the 
Jordan  Valley,  by  the  enclosure  of  a  bit  of  the  ocean-bed, 
between  two  great  folds  of  the  earth's  surface,  The  Dead  Sea 
and  by  a  subsequent  depression  to  the  present  ^'^"'^y- 
great  depth  below  the  level  of  the  sea.  Of  this  extra- 
ordinary Rift  or  Sink,  as  it  might  fitly  be  called,  the  Dead 
Sea  occupies  the  fifty-three  deepest  miles,  with  an  average 
breadth  of  nine  to  ten.  The  surface  is  1290  feet  below 
the  level  of  the  Mediterranean,  but  the  bottom  is  as  deep 
again,  soundings  having  been  taken  to  1300  feet.  This  is 
at  the  north-east  corner,  under  the  hills  of  Moab,  and 
not  far  from  the  entrance  of  the  Jordan  ;  thence  the  bed 

shelves  rapidly  upwards,  till  the  whole  of  the  south  end 

499 


500   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

of  the  sea  is  only  from  8  to  14  feet  in  depth.^  These 
figures,  however,  vary  from  year  to  year,  and  after  a  very 
rainy  season  the  sea  will  be  even  as  much  as  1 5  feet  deeper, 
and  at  the  southern  end  more  than  a  mile  longer.^ 

The  Dead  Sea  receives,  besides  the  Jordan,  four  or  five 
smaller  streams,  but  has  no  issue  or  relief  for  its  waters, 
Thesaitness  exccpt  through  evaporation.  This  is  raised 
of  the  Sea.  ^^  enormous  proportions  by  the  fervent  heat 
which  prevails  in  the  sunken  valley  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  year.  The  extracted  moisture  usually  forms 
a  haze  impenetrable  to  the  eye  for  more  than  a  few  miles, 
but  sometimes  vast  columns  of  mist  rear  themselves  from 
the  sea,  heavy  clouds  are  formed  above,  and  thunder- 
storms, the  more  violent  for  their  narrow  confines,  rage, 
as  the  torn  coasts  testify,  with  lightning  and  floods  of 
rain.  To  the  everlasting  evaporation  is  due  the  bitter- 
ness of  the  sea.  All  rivers  contain  some  salts,  and 
all  lakes  without  issue  to  the  ocean  become,  in  conse- 
quence, more  or  less  briny.  But  the  streams  which  feed 
the  Dead  Sea  are  unusually  saline ;  they  flow  through 
nitrous  soil,  and  they  are  fed  by  sulphurous  springs. 
Chemicals,  too,  have  been  found  in  the  water  of  the 
sea,  which  are  not  traceable  in  its  tributaries,  and  pro- 
bably are  introduced  by  hot  springs  in  the  sea  bottom.^ 
Along  the  shores  are  deposits  of  sulphur  and  petroleum 

^  The  western  side  is,  as  a  rule,  much  shallower  than  the  eastern.  A  few 
years  ago  the  south  end  was  fordable  even  as  far  north  as  the  Lisan  (Burck- 
hardt,  Travels;  Robinson,  B.H.  ii,).  This  and  the  submergence  of  an  old 
jetty  at  the  north  end  prove  that  for  a  long  time  the  volume  of  the  sea  has  been 
increasing.     (Seep.  471.) 

"^  Robinson,  B.R.  ii.  672,  says  that  after  heavy  rain  the  marshes  at  the  south 
end  of  the  Dead  Sea  are  covered  by  water  to  the  extent  of  two  or  three  miles. 

'  E.g.,  Bromine.  Burckhardt  was  told  that  at  the  former  ford  across  the 
sea  the  bottom  waters  felt  warm  to  the  feet. 


The  Dead  Sea  501 


springs.  The  surrounding  strata  are  rich  in  bituminous 
matter,  and  after  earthquakes  lumps  of  bitumen  are  so 
often  found  floating  on  the  water  as  to  justify  its  ancient 
name  of  Asphaltitis.^  At  the  south-east  end  a  ridge  of 
rock-salt,  300  feet  high,  runs  for  five  miles,  elsewhere  there 
are  deep  saline  deposits,  and  the  bed  of  the  sea  appears 
to  be  covered  with  salt  crystals.-  To  all  these  solid 
ingredients,  then,  precipitated  and  concentrated  by  the 
constant  evaporation,  the  Dead  Sea  owes  its  extreme 
bitterness  and  buoyancy.  While  the  water  of  the  ocean 
contains  from  4  to  6  per  cent,  of  solids  in  solution,  the 
Dead  Sea  holds  from  24  to  26  per  cent,  or  five  times  as 
much.^  The  water  is  very  nauseous  to  the  taste  and  oily 
to  the  touch,  leaving  on  the  skin,  when  it  dries,  a  thick 
crust  of  salt.  But  it*  is  very  brilliant.  Seen  from  far 
away  no  lake  on  earth  looks  more  blue  and  beautiful. 
Swim   out  upon  it,  and  at  a  depth  of  20  feet  you  can 

1  Bitumen  is  petroleum  hardened  by  evaporation  and  oxidation.  Dawson, 
Mod.  Science  in  Bible  Lands,  4S7  f.  The  bituminous  limestone,  which  burns 
like  bright  coal  (cf.  Burckhardt,  Syria,  394),  is  the  so-called  Dead-Sea  stone 
from  which  articles  are  made  and  offered  for  sale  in  Jerusalem  and  Bethlehem. 
The  floating  lumps  probably  are  from  petroleum  springs  in  the  sea-bed. 
These  springs  were  evidently  more  common  in  ancient  times  than  now.  Gen. 
xiv.  10  says  the  Vale  of  Siddim  was  ivells,  wells,  i.e.  full  of  wells,  of  bitumen, 

")0n  ni"lX3  ni"lN3.     The   Arabs    still    call    the    bitumen    hommar,      ^^ 
...  .  j^=^ 

Burckhardt,  Syria,  394 ;  Strabo  xvi.  2.  42  ;  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  48 ;  xix.  98 ; 
Josephus  (iv.  Wars,  viii.  4)  and  Pliny  {H.N.  v.  16)  describe  the  sea  as  eject- 
ing bitumen  or  asphalt.  See  also  the  following  modern  travellers :  Burck- 
hardt, Syria,  394  ;  Robinson,  B.R.  ii.  228-230.  In  the  earthquakes  of  1834 
and  1837  large  masses  of  bitumen  were  cast  ashore  ;  Lynch,  Narrative,  303  ; 
etc.,  etc. 

-  The  salt  ridge  is  the  Jebel,  or  Hashm,  Usdum,  see  Robinson,  B.R.  ii. 
206  ff.  481.  The  Arabs  take  salt  from  this  and  from  the  Lisan  on  the  other 
side.     All  dredging  brings  up  crystals  of  salts. 

^  Hull  (work  cited  below)  gives  for  the  Atlantic  6  lbs.  of  salt  in  100  of  water, 
for  the  Dead  Sea,  24'57.  Cf.  the  sets  of  analyses  in  Robinson,  B.R.  ii.  224,  by 
Dr.  Marcet,  Gay-Lussac,  etc.,  and  by  Hull,  P.E.F.  Survey  Metn.  Gcol.  p.  121. 


502    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

count  the  pebbles  through  the  transparent  waters.  The 
buoyancy  of  the  Dead,  Sea  is  well  known  ;  it  is  difficult  to 
sink  the  limbs  deep  enough  for  swimming ;  if  you  throw 
a  stick  on  the  surface,  it  seems  to  rest  there  as  on  a  mirror, 
so  little  of  it  actually  penetrates  the  water.  The  surface 
is  generally  smooth,  the  heavy  water  rises  not  easily ; 
but  when  in  storm  it  does  rise,  the  waves  are  immensely 
powerful.  Lieutenant  Lynch  describes  them  beating  on 
the  bow  of  his  boat  like  the  blows  of  a  sledge-hammer.^ 
No  fish  can  exist  in  the  waters,  nor  is  it  proved  that  any 
low  forms  of  life  have  been  discovered.^ 

These   bitter   and  imprisoned  waters,  that  are  yet  so 

blue  and  brilliant,  chafe  a  low  beach  of  gravel,  varied  by 

^jjg        marl  or  salted  marsh.     Twice  on  the  western 

sea-beach,  gj^g  ^j^g  mountain  cliffs  come  down  to  the 
water's  edge,  and  on  the  eastern  coast  there  is  a  curious 
peninsula  called  El-Lisan,  or  The  Tongue,  though  the 
shape  is  more  that  of  a  spurred  boot.  This  is  formed  of 
steep  banks  of  marl,  from  forty  to  sixty  feet  high,^  that 

1  On  the  water  of  the  Dead  Sea,  seeP.E.F.  Geolog.  Memoir  by  Hull,  pt.  v. 
ch.  i. ;  Dawson,  Alod.  Science  in  Bible  Lands,  472  ff. ;  Lartet,  Le  Mer 
Morte ;  Lynch,  Narrative. 

2  On  my  first  visit  I  found  on  the  north  shore  some  fish  swimming  in  a 
small  pool  that  was  separated  from  the  sea  only  by  a  bar  of  gravel  two  feet 
wide,  and  was  almost  indistinguishable  in  taste.  Yet  when  they  were  put 
into  the  sea  they  gasped  a  few  times  and  turned  over  dead.  Galen,  deSiinpI. 
Med.  iv.  c,  19  (quoted  by  Reland)  :  (paiverai  iv  eKeivuj  rif  iidarc  fii^re  ^Qov 
eyyLyv6fjLev6v  tl,  /JLrjre  <f>vT6v.  The  story  that  birds  cannot  fly  over  the  sea 
('  neque  pisces  aut  suetas  aquis  volucres  patitur;'  Tacitus,  Hist.  v.  6),  is,  of 
course,  legendary.  Robinson  remarks  that  the  absence  of  water-fowl  is  due  to 
the  absence  of  fish,  B.R.  226.  The  multitude  of  shells  are  not  land-shells,  and 
cannot  be  explained  as  having  all  come  down  the  Jordan  and  other  streams. 
Perhaps  they  date  from  the  time  that  the  sea  was  a  fresh-water  lake.   See  p.  470. 

'^  Lynch,  Narrative,  p.  297  :  '  A  bold,  broad  promontory,  from  40  to  60 
feet  liigh,  ...  a  broad  margin  of  sand  at  its  foot,  incrusted  with  salt  and 
bitumen,  the  perpendicular  face  extending  all  round,  and  presenting  the 
coarse  and  chalky  appearance  of  recent  carbonate  of  lime.' 


The  Dead  Sea  50^ 


shine  over  the  blue  waters  hkc  the  long  white  walls  of  an 
iceberg.  Everywhere  else  is  the  gravel,  as  clean  and  fair 
in  appearance  as  the  waters  which  lave  it.  But  the  gravel 
is  crowned  with  an  almost  constant  hedge  of  driftwood, 
every  particle  of  which  is  stripped  of  bark  and  bleached, 
while  much  of  it  glitters  with  salt.  You  could  not  imagine 
a  more  proper  crown  for  Death.  With  this  the  brilliant 
illusion  of  the  Dead  Sea  fades,  and  everywhere  beyond,  to 
the  far  heights  of  the  surrounding  hills,  violence  and  deso- 
lation reign  supreme.  If  the  coast  is  flat  you  have  salt- 
pans, or  a  briny  swamp ;  if  terraced,  there  is  a  yellow, 
scurfy  stretch  of  soil,  with  a  few  thorn-bushes  and  suc- 
culent weeds.  Ancient  beaches  of  the  sea  are  visible  all 
round  it,  steep  banks  from  five  to  fifty  feet  of  stained  and 
greasy  marl,  very  friable,  with  heaps  of  rubbish  at  their 
feet,  and  crowned  by  nothing  but  their  own  bare,  crumbling 
brows.  Some  hold  that  these  gave  the  region  its  ancient 
name,  the  Vale  of  Siddim  ;  ^  and  in  truth,  it  is  they  which 
chiefly  haunt  one's  memory  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Last  crumb- 
ling shelves  of  the  upper  world,  there  are  not  in  nature 
more  weird  symbols  of  forsakenness  and  desolation. 

Behind  these  terraces  of  marl  the  mountains  rise  preci- 
pitous and  barren  on  either  coast.     To  the  east  the  long 
range  of  Moab,  at  a  height  of  2500  to  3000  The  sunound- 
feet  above  the  shore,  is  broken  only  by  the  inghiiis. 
great  valley  of  the  Arnon.     The  tawny  limestone  cliffs, 

^  Conder,  T.  W.,  p.  208,  says  the  local  name  for  these  terraces  is  'sidd.' 
From  the  meaning  of  the  root  110*=  to  level,  U'^'^)^  has  been  taken  in  the 
sense  of  level  fields  (Aq.  Onk,  etc.).  The  LXX.  confesses  ignorance  by 
translating  (pdpay^  i)  a.\vK-/i).  The  Arabic  in  several  forms  means  to  level, 
but  also  to  obstruct.  One  derived  noun,  'sudd,' pi.  'sidadat,' signifies  a 
'hollow  containing  rocks,  stones,  and  stagnant  rain-water'  (Freylag),  and 
Gesenius  takes  the  Hebrew  to  be  something  equivalent. 


504    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

capped  with  softer  chalk,  and  streaked  with  marl,  but 
blotted  here  and  there  by  an  outcrop  of  basalt  or  black 
limestone,  stand  near  enough  to  the  coast  to  be  reflected 
in  the  still  water,  and  at  sunset,  losing  their  spots,  glow 
one  uniform  amethyst  above  the  exceeding  blue.  In  all 
Judsea  there  is  no  view  like  this  one,  as  you  see  it  across 
the  wilderness  from  the  Mount  of  Olives.  On  the  western 
coast  the  hills  touch  the  water  at  two  points,  but  elsewhere 
leave  between  themselves  and  the  sea  the  shore  already 
described,  sometimes  a  hundred  yards  in  breadth,  some- 
times a  mile  and  a  half.  From  behind  the  highest  terrace 
of  marl  the  hills  themselves  rise  precipitously  in  cliffs 
from  2000  to  2500  feet.  No  such  valley  cuts  them  as 
Arnon  cuts  the  opposite  range,  but  every  three  or  four 
miles  they  are  pierced  by  a  narrow  gorge,  which  continues 
in  a  broad  gully  through  the  marl  terraces  to  the  sea. 
These  gorges  are  barren,  except  in  their  rocky  beds,  the 
only  ways  of  passage  up  them,  where  a  few  trees  live  on 
the  water  that  trickles  out  of  sight  beneath  the  grey 
shingle.  Otherwise,  except  at  Engedi,  the  western  range 
is  bare,  unbroken,  menacing  ;  and  there  are  few  places  in 
the  world  where  the  sun  beats  with  so  fierce  a  heat.^ 
Beyond  this  rocky  barrier  stretches  Jeshimon,  or  Devas- 
tation^ the  wilderness  of  Judaea,  which  we  have  already 
traversed.^ 

In  this  awful  hollow,  this  bit  of  the  infernal  regions 
come  up  to  the  surface,  this  hell  with  the  sun  shining  into 
History  on  the  ^^>  primitive  man  laid  the  scene  of  God's  most 
Dead  Sea.  terrible  judgment  on  human  sin.  The  glare  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  is  flung  down  the  whole  length  of 
Scripture  history.  It  is  the  popular  and  standard  judg- 
^  For  Engedi,  see  pp.  269  ff.  2  See  pp.  312  ff. 


The  Dead  Sea  505 


merit  of  sin.  The  story  is  told  in  Genesis ;  it  is  applied 
in  Deuteronomy,  by  Amos,  by  Isaiah,  by  Jeremiah,  by 
Zephaniah,  in  Lamentations,  and  by  Ezekiel.^  Our  Lord 
Himself  employs  it  more  than  once  as  the  figure  of  the 
judgment  He  threatens  upon  cities  where  the  word  is 
preached  in  vain,  and  there  we  feel  the  flame  scorch  our 
own  cheeks.^  Paul,  Peter,  Judc,  all  make  mention  of  it/ 
In  the  Apocalypse  the  great  city  of  sin  is  spiritually  called 
Sodoin.^ 

The  cities  were  five  :  Sodom,  Gomorrah,  Admah,Zeboiim, 
and  Bela  or  Zoar.^  They  lay  on  the  floor  of  the  Jordan 
Valley,  after  the  name  of  which  they  were  called  ^j^^  (^^gg  ^^ 
Cities  of  the  Kikkar,  or  Circled  But  exactly  ^'^^  ^'=^'"- 
where,  we  cannot  tell.  Though  the  glare  of  this  catastrophe 
burns  still,  the  ruins  it  left  have  entirely  disappeared,  and 
there  remains  in  the  valley  almost  no  authentic  trace  of 
the  names  it  has  torn  and  scattered  to  infamy  across  the 
world.  There  is  a  much-debated  but  insoluble  question 
whether  the  narratives  in  Genesis  intend  to  place  the  cities 

^  Gen.  xix.  ;  Deut.  xxix.  23,  cf.  xxxii.  32;  Amos  iv,  11  ;  Isaiah  i.  9  f.,  iii. 
9,  cf.  xiii.  19 ;  Jer.  xxiii.  14,  xlix.  18,  1.  40 ;  Zeph.  li.  9  ;  Lam.  iv.  6  ;  Ezek. 
xvi.  46,  49,  53,  55. 

•  Matt.  X.  15,  xi.  24;  Mark  vi.  11  ;  Luke  x.  12,  xvii.  29. 

*  Rom.  ix.  29,  quoting  Isa.  i.  9  ;  2  Peter  ii.  6  ;  Jude  7. 
•»  Rev.  xi.  8. 

^  Gen.  xiv.    2.     Sodom  =   DID,    LXX.  Zodo/xa,    in  the   Arab   tradition 

/•«Ju«j.  Gomorra  =  mDy,  T6/jLoppa,  ')»-♦£.  Admah  =  nO'1X,  'ASa/xa., 
l^t^l  Zeboim=:D;b>',  or  D"'13V,  or  D"'NnV,  Zt^uelfx,  ^^^,  or 
U.' U.     Zoar  =  -lyX  or  I^IV,  Zrjyiip,  S670/),  \jy.la. 

^  In  our  English  version  Cities  of  the  Plain,  but  "132  =  circle.  ISSi^  is 
used  alone  in  Gen.  xiii.  12,  xix.  17,  29 ;  Deut.  xxxiv.  ;  2  Sam.  xviii.  23  ;  but 
the  fuller  phrase,  H!?*'!'  "l^^,  the  Circle  of  Jordan,  in  Gen.  xiii.  10,  i  Kings 
vii.  46,  cf.  Matt.  iii.  5. 


5o6   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

to  the  north  or  to  the  south  of  the  Dead  Sea,  For  the 
northern  site  there  are  these  arguments — that  Abraham 
and  Lot  looked  upon  the  cities  from  near  Bethel/  that 
the  name  Circle  of  Jordan  is  not  applicable  to  the  south 
end  of  the  Dead  Sea,  that  the  presence  of  five  cities  there 
is  impossible,^  that  the  expedition  of  the  Four  Kings,  as 
it  swept  north  from  Kadesh-Barnea,  attacked  Hazezon 
Tamar,  which  is  probably  Engedi,  before  it  reached  the 
Vale  of  Siddim  and  encountered  the  King  of  Sodom  and 
his  allies  ;  ^  that  the  name  Gomorrah  perhaps  exists  in 
Tubk  'Amriyeh,  near  'Ain  el  Feshkah ;  ^  and  that  the 
name  of  Zoar  has  been  recovered  in  Tell  Shaghur.^ 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  at  the  south  end  of  the 
Dead  Sea  there  lay  throughout  Roman  and  Mediaeval 
times  a  city  called  Zoara  by  the  Greeks  and  Zughar  by 
the  Arabs,  which  was  identified  by  all  with  the  Zoar  of 
Lot.^     Jebel  Usdum  is  the  'uncontested  representative  of 

1  Gen.  X.  cf.  v.  3  with  v.  10.  2  Conder,  F.E.F.Q.,  18S6,  139. 

^  Suggested  by  Conder,  but  previously  by  De  Saulcy. 
*  Gen.  xiv.  7,  8.     But  see  below. 

^  j4iL;j  first  pointed  out  by  Rev.  W.  F.  Birch,  and  adopted  by  Conder, 
Heih  and  Moab,  154.  Merrill,  East  ofjordan,  235,  prefers  the  site  Ektanu, 
His  argument  that  the  Zoar  of  the  Arab  geographers  lay  to  the  north  of  the 
Dead  Sea  is  met  by  Le  Strange,  Pal.  under  Moslems,  286. 

^  Zwapd  and  Zocip  in  Josephus,  iv.  Wars,  viii.  4 :  '  The  Sea  of  Asphalt 
reaches  to  Zoar  in  Arabia  ; '  cf.  i.  Antt.  xi.  4,  xiv.  Antt.  i.  4.  Zwapd  in  the 
Onoinasticon,  art.  ^cCkd  :  '  Still  inhabited,  lying  on  the  Dead  Sea,  and  holding 
a  garrison  of  soldiers  ;  the  balsam  and  palm  grow  by  it,  proofs  of  its  ancient 
fertility.'  Zughar,  spelt  also  Sughar  and  Sukar,  is  mentioned  by  a  number  of 
Arab  geographers,  whose  statements  are  collected  by  Le  Strange,  Pal.  tuidcr 
Aloslems,  286  ff.  According  to  these,  it  was  a  station  on  the  great  trade 
route  between  the  Gulf  of  Akabah  and  Jericho,  one  degree  of  latitude  south 
of  Jericho,  '  a  city  of  heat  near  the  desert,'  '  on  the  shore  of  the  overwhelming 
lake.  .  .  •  The  mountains  overhang  the  town.'  'Near  Al  Karak,  three 
days'  march  from  Jerusalem,  on  the  Higgas  border.'  'The  lake  is  called 
after  it ; '  '  the  neighbouring  people  call  the  town  Sakar,  i.e.  Hell ;  its 
water  is  execrable  ;    no  place   equal   to  it  in   evil   climate  ;    its  people  are 


The  Dead  Sea  507 


Sodom.^  Hazczon  Tamar  may  be  not  En-gedi,  but  the 
Tamar  of  Ezekiel,  south-west  of  the  Dead  Sea.-  The 
name  Kikkar  may  surely  have  been  extended  to  the 
south  of  the  Dead  Sea,  just  as  to-day  the  Ghor  is  con- 
tinued for  a  few  miles  to  the  south  of  Jebel  Usdum  ;  ^ 
Jewish  and  Arab  traditions  fix  on  the  south  ;  and,  finally, 
the  natural  conditions  are  more  suitable  there  than  on  the 
north  to  the  descriptions  of  the  region  both  before  and 
after  the  catastrophe,  for  there  is  still  sufficient  water 
and  verdure  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Ghor  to  suggest  a 
garden   of  the   Lord^  while   the   shallow   bay   and    long 

black-skinned  and  thick-set ;  its  waters  are  hot,  even  as  though  the  place 
stood  over  hell-fire.  Its  commercial  prosperity  is,  like  BCizrah,  on  a  small 
scale,  and  its  trade  very  lucrative  ; '  '  much  arable  land  there  ; '  '  the  trade 
of  the  place  is  considerable,  and  its  markets  greatly  frequented.'  The 
Arab  writers  identify  it  with  Lot's  Zoar.  Crusaders  knew  the  place  as 
Segor,  but  themselves  called  it  Palmer  (Will,  of  Tyre,  xxii.  30).  M. 
Clermont  Ganneau,  P^E.F.Q.,  18S6,  20,  thinks  the  site  maybe  discovered 
not  far  from  the  Tawahin  es  Soukhar,  on  the  Ghor  es  Safieh  ;  and  here 
Major  Kitchener,  P.E.F.Q.,  1S84,  216,  with  plan,  found  remains  of  buildings 
of  great  antiquity,  but  none  like  temples,  with  the  name  Khurbet  Labrush. 
^  The   phrase   is   Clermont    Ganneau's,   P.E.F.Q.,    1886,   20.     Usdum, 

^Jk—'lj    from   Sodom,    by   that   common   change   which   has   turned   Resef 

into  Arsuf,  etc.  De  Saulcy  also  reports  ruins  with  the  name  Khurbet 
Usdum.  But  we  have  other  proofs  that  the  name  Sodom  existed  here  in 
comparatively  recent  times.  Galen,  Bk.  iv.  De  simplichim  medicamen- 
toriim  facultatibtis,  calls  certain  salts  '  salts  of  Sodom  '  from  '  the  mountains 
surrounding  the  lake,  which  are  called  Sodom  {'Zoloy.d).^  At  the  Council 
of  Nice  there  was  present  a  Bishop  Severus  Sodomorum  ^Ada  Cone. 
yWc.)  ;  if  this  reading  be  correct,  then  we  must  suppose  that  the  district 
south  of  the  Dead  Sea  still  held  the  name  which  was  there  in  Galen's  time, 
and  is  still  found.  This  is  so  likely,  that  we  can  dispense  with  the  explanation 
offered  by  Reland,  p.  1020. 

2  Knobel,  in  Gen.  xiv.  7  ;  cf.  lizck.  xlvii.  19,  xlviii.  28. 

^  Robinson,  B.R.  ii.  490,  states  that  the  exact  point  of  division  between 
El  Ghor  and  El  'Arabah  is  a  line  of  white  cliffs  which  crosses  the  valley 
obliquely  beyond  the  flat  marshland  to  the  south  of  the  Dead  Sea.  From 
there  south  to  Akabah  is  the  'Arabah  ;  but  north  to  the  Lake  of  Galilee, 
the  Ghor.  '  Gen.  xiii.  10. 


5o8    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

marshes  may,  better  than  the  ground  at  the  north  end  of 
the  sea,  hide  the  secret  of  the  overwhelmed  cities.^ 

Such  is  the  evidence  for  the  rival  sites.  We  can  only- 
wonder  at  the  confidence  with  which  all  writers  dogmatic- 
ally decide  in  favour  of  one  or  the  other. 

And  Jehovah  rained  upon  Sodom  and  upon  Gomorrah 

sulphur  and  fire— from  Jehovah,  fro7n  the  heavens — and  He 

overturned  those  cities,  and  all  the  Circle,  and  all 

The  Overthrow 

of  Sodom  ajid    the  inhabitants  of  the  cities,  and  that  which  grew 

Gomorrah. 

Upon  the  ground.  And  Lofs  wife  looked  back  as 
they  fled  to  Zoar  and  became  a  pillar  of  salt.  A  nd  A  braham 
looked  down  zipon  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  upon  all  the  lajid  of 
the  Circle,  and  saw,  and,  behold,  the  smoke  of  the  land  went 
up  like  the  smoke  of  a  furnace?-  Some  have  identified 
these  words  as  the  description  of  such  an  eruption  as  that 
of  Vesuvius  upon  Pompeii.^  But  there  is  no  need  to  invoke 
the  volcano,  and  those  are  more  in  harmony  with  the  nar- 
rative, who  judge  that  in  this  heavily  bituminous  soil  there 
took  place  one  of  those  terrible  explosions  and  conflagra- 
tions, which  have  sometimes  broken  out  in  the  similar 

*  Robinson,  B.R.  ii.  489,  describes  the  Ghor  at  the  south  end  of  the  Dead 
Sea  as  '  wholly  unsusceptible  of  cultivation,'  except  on  the  eastern  side, 
'  which  is  covered  with  shrubs  and  verdure,  like  the  Plain  of  Jericho.'  The 
bay  is  very  shallow,  and  was  fordable  a  few  years  back  (on  the  ford,  see 
Robinson,  B.R.  ii.  p.  234  f. ;  Lynch,  Narrative,  p.  304  n.).  There  is  nothing 
to  prevent  the  theory  that  this  end  of  the  Dead  Sea  was  formed  much  later 
than  the  Dead  Sea  itself.     See  Robinson,  B.R.  ii.  604. 

^  Gen.  xix.  24-28. 

^  Most  recently,  Fritz  Notling,  Das  Todte  Meer  u.  der  Untergang  von 
Sodom  u.  Gomorra,  in  the  Deutsches  Mojitagsblatt,  x.  Jahrg.  Nos.  27,  31,  33 
(quoted  Z.D.P.V.  xi.  126),  seeks  for  the  cities  in  the  Wady  Zerka  Ma'in 
in  Moab,  and  accounts  for  their  overthrow  by  the  eruption  of  a  volcano. 
In  support  of  this  he  points  to,  what  he  himself  has  proved,  the  compara- 
tively recent  date  of  the  lava  streams  on  the  east  of  Jordan.  But  towns 
in  the  Wady  Zerka  Ma'in  could  not  be  called  cities  of  the  Kikkar,  and  the 
phenomena  described  do  not  agree  with  a  volcanic  eruption. 


The  Dead  Sea  509 


geology  of  the  oil  districts  of  North  America.^  In  such 
soil  great  reservoirs  of  oil  and  gas  are  formed,  and  sud- 
denly discharged  by  their  own  pressure  or  by  earthquake. 
The  gas  explodes,  carrying  high  up  into  the  air  masses  of 
the  oil  which  fall  back  in  fiery  rain,  and  are  so  inextinguish- 
able that  they  will  float  afire  on  water.  Sometimes  brine 
and  saline  mud  are  ejected,  and  over  the  site  of  the  reser- 
voirs there  are  tremors  and  subsidences.  Such  a  pheno- 
menon accounts  for  all  the  statements  of  the  narrative. 

The  reality  of  the  narrative,  however,  has  been  questioned 
by  many.  They  have  argued  that  it  is  simply  one  of  the 
many  legends  of  overturned  or  buried  cities, 

Historical 

with  the  addition  of  the  local  phenomena  of  character  of 

the  narrative. 

the  Dead  Sea,  and  of  a  very  much  grander 
moral  than  has  ever  been  attached  to  any  tale  of  the  kind. 
But  statements  of  this  argument  have  hitherto  been 
vitiated  by  three  faults.  They  have  been  based  upon  facts 
that  are  irrelevant,  they  have  omitted  some  that  are 
relevant,  and  they  have  supposed  that  critics  who  maintain 
the  historical  truth  of  the  narrative  have  some  subjective 
or  dogmatic  reason  for  doing  so.  For  instance,  they 
appeal  to  the  ease  with  which  legends  spring  up  every- 
where of  cities  sunk  beneath  lakes  or  the  ocean.  But  this 
is  not  relevant  to  our  narrative,  for  the  striking  thing  is 
that,  though  the  presence  of  the  Dead  Sea  offers  every 
temptation  for  the  adoption  of  such  a  legend,  it  is  nowhere 
in  the  Bible  even  suggested  that  the  doomed  cities  are 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  but  we  hear  of  this  first  from 


^  Robinson  {B.R.  ii.  606  ff.,  Letter  to  Leopold  von  Buch)  suggested  the 
coincidence  of  volcanic  and  earthquake  action,  the  stuff  from  the  volcano 
setting  on  fire  the  bitumen  released  by  the  earthquake.  It  is  Dawson,  Mod. 
Science  in  Bible  Lands,  488  ff. ,  who  gives  the  theory  described  above. 


5IO   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Josephus.^  This  is  surely  a  proof  of  the  sobriety  of  the 
biblical  tradition.  Again,  the  arguments  against  the  latter 
fail  to  deal  with  the  fact  that  the  phenomena  it  describes 
have  all  happened  elsewhere  in  similar  geological  forma- 
tions, and  yet  are  so  singular  that  it  is  not  probable  they  can 
have  been  invented.  And,  thirdly,  so  far  from  its  being  a 
dogmatic  interest  which  alone  holds  some  to  a  belief  in  the 
narrative,  the  facts  of  the  existence  of  the  cities  and  of  their 
overthrow  in  the  manner  described  are  accepted  both  by 
authorities  in  natural  science  and  by  critics  of  the  Old 
Testament,  who  have  obviously  no  such  interests  to  serve. 
The  effort  to  prove  the  story  wholly  legend  may  therefore 
be  said  to  have  failed.^ 


^  The  one  verse  through  which  this  notion  of  submergence  could  be  forced 
on  Scripture,  only  through  a  wrong  interpretation,  is  Gen.  xiv.  3,  the  Vale  of 
Siddiin,  which  is  the  Salt  Sea.  But,  first,  these  words  do  not  necessarily 
identify  the  Vale  and  the  Sea  as  coincident ;  and,  second,  the  verse  only  gives 
the  Vale  of  Siddim  as  the  battle-field,  not  as  the  site  of  the  cities.  Nowhere 
else  in  Scripture  is  there  the  slightest  suggestion  of  submergence.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  site  of  Sodom  is  regarded  not  as  sea-covered,  but  as  salt-covered  and 
infertile,  soil.  It  is  interesting  that,  in  their  allusions  to  the  catastrophe,  neither 
Strabo  (xvi. )  nor  Tacitus  {Hist.  v.  7.)  speaks  of  submergence.  All  the  more 
surprising  is  it  that  accurate  scholars  like  Siegfried  and  Stade  should  twice  have 
stated  that  the  cities  are  sunk  in  the  Dead  Sea.  Handworterbiich,  artt.  DTD 
and  moy-     On  Cheyne,  see  next  note. 

"  In  the  above  paragraph  I  have  had  chiefly  in  view  a  learned  article  by 
Canon  Cheyne  in  the  Netv  World,  vol.  i.,  1892,  pp.  236-245,  which  seems 
to  me  to  have  all  the  three  faults  I  have  instanced.  Canon  Cheyne 
dwells  much  on  the  parallel  afforded  by  the  stories  of  cities  sunk  beneath  the 
ocpan,  which,  as  I  have  shown,  are  relevant  to  this  argument  only  for  point- 
ing out  how  free  the  Bible  story  is  from  such  an  exaggeration,  even  though 
the  Dead  Sea  must  have  suggested  it  from  the  first.  Canon  Cheyne  also  does 
not  mention  the  scientific  evidence.  He  is  so  sure,  however,  of  his  argument, 
that  he  ascribes  any  belief  in  the  described  facts  to  an  uncritical  orthodoxy 
and  purely  doctrinal  interests.  This  may  be  easily  disproved  by  citing,  from 
among  scientists,  Notling,  who  both  gives  a  site  for  the  towns  and  a  reason 
for  their  overthrow,  and,  from  among  critics  who  cannot  be  charged  with  a 
dogmatic  bias,  Knobel,  who,  on  Gen.  xix.  28,  says  :  '  Dem  Bericht  liegt  ohne 
Zweifel  eine  Thatsache  zu  Grund.'     It  is  a  pity  for  criticism  that  such  total 


The  Dead  Sea  5 1 1 


It  is  in  accordance  with  the  grace  of  God,  making  that 
first  which  was  last  and  that  last  which  was  first,  that  this 
awful  vale  of  judgment,  to  which  its  inhabitants 

Ezekiel's 

sometimes  gave  the  name  of  Hell,  should  be  vision  of  the 
the  scene  of  one  of  the  most  lively  and  stupen- 
dous hopes  of  prophecy.  To  the  north  of  Jerusalem 
begins  the  torrent-bed  of  the  Kedron.  It  sweeps  past  the 
Temple  Mount,  past  what  were  afterwards  Calvary  and 
Gethsemane.  It  leaves  the  Mount  of  Olives  and  Bethany 
to  the  left,  Bethlehem  far  to  the  right.  It  plunges  down 
among  the  bare  terraces,  precipices  and  crags  of  the 
wilderness  of  Judaea — the  wilderness  of  the  Scape-goat. 
So  barren  and  blistered,  so  furnacelike  does  it  become  as 
it  drops  below  the  level  of  the  sea,  that  it  takes  the  name 
of  Wady-en-Nar,  or  the  Fire  Wady.  At  last  its  dreary 
course  brings  it  to  the  precipices  above  the  Dead  Sea,  into 
which  it  shoots  its  scanty  winter  waters  ;  but  all  summer 
it  is  dry.  The  imagination  of  a  prophet  who  always 
haunted  the  austere  and  weird,  Ezekiel,  filled  the  Wady  of 
Fire  with  water  from  under  the  threshold  of  the  temple, 
water  that  came  up  to  the  ankles,  and  then  to  the  knees,  and 
then  to  the  loins,  and  then  became  waters  of  siviiiiniitig,  a 
torrent  that  could  not  be  crossed.     And  the  bare  banks,  that 

rejection  of  any  narrative  should  be  made  without  exhaustive  review  of  the 
evidence,  or  that  those  who  still  hold  to  tlie  fact  in  it  should  be  described 
as  doing  so  for  purely  subjective  reasons,  when  there  is  still  so  much  evidence 
for  it  as  fact.  For  myself  I  do  not  feel  that  it  matters  anything  to  faith, 
whether  the  story  be  historical  or  not.  But  there  is  much  evidence  for  it. 
The  various  narratives  belong  as  follows  :  ch.  xiii.,  describing  Lot's  settle- 
nient  in  Sodom,  is  from  the  Jehovist,  except  vv.  6,  ii  and  12,  which  are 
probably  from  the  Priestly  Writing ;  ch.  xiv.,  the  defeat  of  the  five  kings, 
is  from  an  unknown  source  outside  the  chief  documents,  and  by  some  held 
to  be  of  date  contemporary  with  its  events  ;  and  ch.  xix.  1-2S  is  from  the 
Jehovist,  but  v.  29  from  the  Priestly  Writing.  The  ghastly  story,  30-3S,  is 
probably  from  some  other  source. 


512    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  sun  blisters,  had  very  many  trees  on  the  one  side  and  on 
the  other.  And  these  waters  zvent  dozvn  to  the  'Arabah, 
and  zvent  into  the  sour  waters,  and  the  waters  zvere  to  be 
healed.  And  the  Dead  Sea  was  to  swarm  with  fish,  and  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  the  fishers  shall  stand  upon  it  from  En- 
gedi  to  En-eglaim.  But  in  the  midst  of  the  vision  there  is 
a  curious  reservation  of  a  utihtarian  kind,  the  fens  and  the 
marishes  thereof  shall  not  be  healed,  they  shall  be  given  for  salt, 
— salt  which  under  the  Old  Covenant  the  Dead  Sea  ever  sup- 
plied, for  house  or  temple,  meat  or  sacrifice,  and  still  sends 
up  to  Jerusalem  by  the  long  camel  trains  you  see  travers- 
ing the  coast  from  Usdum  to  En-gedi.  But  the  vision  opens 
out  again.  And  by  the  torrent  upon  the  bank  thereof,  on 
this  side  and  on  that  side,  shall  come  up  all  trees  for  food, 
whose  leaf  shall  not  fade,  fieither  shall  the  fruit  thereof  be  con- 
sumed :  it  shall  bring  forth  neiv  fruit  according  to  his  months, 
because  their  waters  issued  out  of  the  Sanctuary,  and  the 
fruit  thereof  shall  be  for  food,  and  the  leaf  thereof  for  bruises 
and  sores}  So  there  is  nothing, — nothing  too  sunken,  too 
useless,  too  doomed, — but  by  the  grace  of  God  it  may  be 
redeemed,  lifted  and  made  rich  with  life. 

Passing  over  several  of  Herod's  cruelties  and  his  own 
awful  end,  which  happened  at  Jericho  within  the  Dead 
Sea  region,  we  come  to  the  last  historic  scene  on  these 
bitter  coasts — the  Massacre  of  Masada. 

Masada,  or  Sebbeh,  as  it  is  called  to-day,  lies  on  the 

coast,  five  hours  to  the  south  of  En-gedi.     Seen  from  the 

north  it  is  an  immense  rock,  half  a  mile  long 

Masada. 

by  an  eighth  broad,  hewn  out  of  the  range 
that  runs  down  the  coast,  and  twisted  round  so  as  to 
point  boldly  north-east   across  the  sea.      It  is  isolated, 

^  Ezek.  xlvii.  I-I2. 


The  Dead  Sea  513 


precipitous  on  every  side  and  inaccessible  except  in  two 
places,  where  winding  paths,  half  goat-tracks  half  ladders, 
may  be  followed  by  men  in  single  file.^  On  the  west  this 
stronghold  falls  only  some  400  feet  upon  a  promontory 
that  connects  it  with  the  range  behind.  Everywhere  else 
it  shows,  at  least,  1300  feet  of  cliff,  but  seaward  as  much  as 
1700.  The  fortresses  are  very  few  that  match  this  one  in 
natural  strength.  But  it  is  only  when  you  come  to  it,  as 
those  who  would  attack  it  had  to  come,  through  the  water- 
less wilderness  of  Judaea,  that  you  feel  its  awful  remoteness, 
its  savage  height,  its  fitness  to  turn  whole  armies  of  besiegers 
into  stony  despair.  Masada  is  the  Gorgon's  head  magni- 
fied to  a  mountain.  After  six  hours'  ride  through  the 
falling  chaos  of  Jeshimon,^  we  found  faint  traces  of  a  mili- 
tary road, — our  Arabs  called  this  Karossa  el  Khufeiriyeh, 
— only  to  lose  them  on  the  edge  of  a  cliff.  Leading  our 
horses  down  this  cliff  by  a  path,  each  turn  of  which  was 
visible  only  when  we  came  to  it,  we  struck  the  bed  of  the 
Wady  Safsaf,  and  followed  it  towards  the  great  bulk 
of  rock  which  shut  out  the  Dead  Sea  from  our  view, 
and  soon  towered  above  us.  This  was  Masada,  bare, 
brown,  inaccessible,  except  for  a  narrow  bank  reared 
against  it  at  a  steep  angle,  and  in  its  white  colour  very 
distinct  from  the  rock  itself  The  bank  rose  from  the 
neck  of  land  which  connects  the  rock  with  the  wady  behind. 
We  climbed  it  on  foot.  Halfway  up  we  struck  to  the  right 
along  the  almost  precipitous  rock,  and  then  turned  left  by 
another  sloping  shelf,  which  brought  us  to  a  gateway  with 


^  Josephus  notices  these  two  approaches.  One  of  them  he  calls  the  Snake. 
De  Saulcy  says  he  has  flattered  it.  '  C'est  une  escalade  sans  interruption.' — 
Voyage  autoiir  de  la  JMer  Mortc. 

-  See  p.  312  f. 

2  K 


514   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

a  pointed  arch.  A  few  more  steps  placed  us  on  the 
summit  It  is  a  plateau  almost  700  yards  long,  and  in 
breadth  varies  from  180  yards  at  the  north  end  to  250  at 
the  south.  The  view  is  magnificent,  and  at  first  dazzled 
our  eyes  to  the  interesting  ruins  at  our  feet.  We  saw  the 
Dead  Sea  in  its  whole  length.  En-gedi  was  clear  to  the 
north,  the  Jebel  Usdum  clear  to  the  south.  The  penin- 
sula, El-Lisan,  lay  brilliant  white  on  the  brilliant  blue  of 
the  water.  Behind  it  ran  the  long  wall  of  Moab,  and  over 
the  top  of  this  we  discerned  plainly  the  position  of  Kerak. 
Only  westward  was  the  view  confined,  and  yet  it  had  its 
own  fascination,  for  here  rise  the  jagged  cliffs  of  Jeshimon, 
with  the  uncouth  valley  running  up  through  them. 
Immediately  below  is  the  neck  of  land  coming  out  to 
Masada  from  this  valley,  the  dizzy  depths  of  the  gorges 
on  either  side,  and  eastward  the  broad  flat  beach  of 
the  sea. 

The  ruins  on  Masada  are  the  gateway  already  noticed, 
the  debris  of  a  wall  running  right  round  the  edge  of  the 
The  build-     platcau,  and  on  the  latter,  cisterns  and  tombs, 
ings.  ^]^g  remains  of  a  castle  and  of  a  great  palace, 

a  chapel  with  the  apse  still  standing,  and  curious  mosaics 
on  the  walls.  The  pointed  arch  of  the  gateway  and  the 
chapel  are  certainly  Byzantine  or  later.  The  rest  of  the 
ruins  are  Herodian.  It  is  with  them  that  the  real  history 
of  Masada  is  bound  up. 

Jonathan  Maccabeus  was  the  first  to  build  a  fortress  on 
the  rock.^  Herod  fled  to  it  with  his  bride  Mariamne  in 
42  B.C.,  when  the  Parthians  took  Jerusalem  ;  and  eight 
years  later  he  elaborately  built  upon  it.  He  enclosed  the 
plateau  by  a  wall  seven  furlongs  in  circumference  with 
^  Hence  the  name  mVD  =  fortress. 


The  Dead  Sea  515 


towers.  He  built  a  richly-furnished  palace  on  the  west, 
and  floored  it  with  stones  of  several  colours — the  mosaic 
still  found.  The  top  of  the  hill,  which  was  of  fat  soil, 
he  reserved  for  cultivation  ;  he  hewed  many  and  great 
reservoirs  for  rain,  and  laid  up  in  caverns  immense  quan- 
tities of  wine,  oil,  pulse  and  dates.  It  is  said  that  these 
stores  were  still  in  good  condition  a  century  later,  when 
Masada,  along  with  Machaerus  and  Hyrcaneum,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Sicarii — the  most  fanatic  and  delirious  of 
all  the  Jewish  patriots  in  the  war  of  Independence.  In 
70  A.D.  when  Jerusalem  fell,  a  band  of  them,  ^j^^  massacre 
being  the  last  survivors  of  the  garrison,  fled  o^  Masada. 
with  Eleazar  to  Masada.  They  might  well  have  thought 
themselves  secure  in  a  fortress  so  remote,  and  standing  so 
well  furnished  in  the  midst  of  so  waterless  a  country.  But 
they  had  Rome  to  deal  with.  Now  Palestine  is  stamped  all 
over  with  proofs  of  the  power  of  the  Romans,  yet  nowhere 
are  you  so  forced  into  admiration  of  their  genius  as  when 
you  stand  on  that  Dead  Sea  coast  below  Masada,  between 
their  two  camps,  or  mark  the  wall  they  built  around  the 
rock,  or  the  white  ramp  they  raised  against  it.  They  laid 
a  road  across  a  waterless  desert,  brought  their  siege- 
engines  down  cliffs,  and  fought  for  months,  miles  away 
from  their  water  and  their  forage.  The  General  was 
Flavins  Silva,  a  lieutenant  of  Titus.  On  the  earthen  bank 
on  the  promontory  he  raised  another  bank  of  stones,  and 
on  that  a  great  tower  plated  with  iron.  This  brought  the 
battering-ram  on  a  level  with  the  edge  of  the  plateau,  and 
it  breached  Herod's  wall.  The  defenders  built  an  inner 
wall,  that  was  but  a  great  trough  of  wood  packed  with 
earth,  and  the  blows  of  the  ram  only  made  this  more  com- 
pact.    Silva  set  it  on  fire.     At  first  the  flames  were  blown 


5 16    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

on  the  besiegers,  but,  the  wind  changing,  the  fire  coursed 
through  the  whole  wall.  The  Romans  let  it  burn,  and 
retired  to  their  camps  for  the  night.  Next  morning  they 
planted  their  ladders  and  prepared  for  the  assault.  But 
no  one  met  them,  and  on  all  the  plateau  nothing  moved 
except  the  still  smouldering  fire.  The  first  of  the  storming 
party  stood  still  on  the  tops  of  their  ladders  and  sent  across 
the  silence  a  great  shout.  Then  two  women  with  some 
children  came  out  of  a  cave,  and  told  that  when  the  inner 
wall  took  fire,  Eleazar  gathered  his  men  and  urged  them, 
rather  than  fall  into  Roman  hands,  or  let  their  wives  and 
children  so  fall,  to  kill  the  latter,  and  then  to  slay  each 
other.  Moved  by  his  words  into  a  great  fury,  not  one 
drew  back  or  scrupled,  but,  kissing  them  with  tears,  each 
slew  those  who  were  dearest  to  him.  Then  by  lot  ten  of 
the  men  were  chosen  to  fall  upon  the  others,  who  received 
their  death-blows  lying  stretched  upon  their  families.  And 
of  those  ten  one  was  chosen  who  slew  the  other  nine,  and, 
setting  fire  to  all  their  property  that  had  been  gathered 
together  for  burning,  he  fell  upon  his  own  sword.  The  two 
women  who  now  met  the  Romans  had  hidden  themselves 
with  five  children,  and  these  were  the  only  survivors  of  a 
garrison  of  nearly  one  thousand. 


BOOK    I  II 
EASTERN  PALESTINE 

CHAPTER    XXIV 
OVER  JORDAN :   THE  GENERAL  FEATURES 


sa 


For  this  Chapter  constdt  Maps  I.  and  III. 


OVER  JORDAN :  THE  GENERAL  FEATURES 

'  A^/^O''  says  Dean  Stanley,  'that  has  ever  travelled 
*  *  in  Palestine  has  not  longed  to  cross  the  Jordan 
Valley  to  those  mysterious  hills  which  close  every  east- 
ward view  with  their  long  horizontal  outline,  their  over- 
shadowing heights,  their  deep  purple  shade?'  He  justly 
calls  them  'the  most  novel  feature  of  the  Holy  Land,' 
'  the  elevating  and  solemn  background  of  all  that  is  poor 
and  mean  in  the  scenery  of  Western  Palestine.'  Now 
only  part  of  their  impressiveness  is  due  to  their  height, 
enhanced  as  it  is  by  the  unusual  depression  of  the  Jordan 
Valley  below  them  ;  they  derive  by  far  the  most  of  their 
fascination  from  their  sustained  line  of  elevation.  As  you 
see  this  from  afar,  you  feel  in  it  the  promise  of  a  fresh 
and  spacious  country  behind — high,  healthy  areas  of  life, 
an  open  and  a  richly  furnished  stage  for  history. 

This  promise  is  amply  fulfilled  when  you  cross  Jordan 
and  climb  the  range  of  Eastern  Palestine.  The  country 
is  about  150  miles  long  from  Hermon  on  the  The  eastern 
north  to  the  south  end  of  the  Dead  Sea ;  its  P'^^'cau. 
breadth,  from  the  edge  of  the  Jordan  Valley  to  the  edge 
of  the  desert,  varies  from  thirty  to  eighty.  Yet  through- 
out this  great  extent  the  average  elevation  must  be 
nearly  2000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  or  2800  above 
the   average    level    of   Jordan.      The    consequence    is   a 

619 


520   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

temperate  climate  lifted  above  the  almost  tropic  heats 
which  surround  it  to  west  and  south.  In  winter  the 
snow  lies  for  days  at  a  time ;  ^  even  in  November  and 
March  there  are  frosts  ;  ^  and  the  temperature  falls  low 
enough  to  explain  the  old  Arab  saying  that  the  cold  has 
one  of  its  homes  in  the  Belka'.^  Throughout  summer 
there  seems  to  be  more  rain,  mist,  and  cloud  than  upon 
the  other  side  of  Jordan,*  and  the  days  are  swept  by 
breezes  from  the  west  with  the  freshness  of 

Its  health. 

the  sea  upon  them.  The  Jaulan  and  Hauran 
were  called  by  the  Romans  '  Palestina  Salutaris ; '  and 
Oliphant  says  that  'cool-blowing'  is  an  epithet  Arab 
poets  are  fond  of  applying  to  the  Nukra,  or  southern 
end  of  Hauran.^  We  traversed  Eastern  Palestine  during 
twenty-two  days  of  midsummer,^  and  were  therefore 
able  to  test  the  climate.  We  had  thrice  dense  mists,'^ 
and  several  very  cold  evenings.  Every  morning  about 
ten  a  breeze  sprang  up  from  the  west,  and  lasted  till 
sun-down,  so  that  although  the  noon  temperature  in  the 
Jordan  Valley,  as  often  as  we  entered  it,  was  at  least 
103°,  on  the  table-land  above  we  seldom  had  it  over  90°.^ 
Whether  upon  the  shadeless  plain  of  Hauran,  where  the 

^  Seetzen  (Reisen,  vol.  i.)  had  during  February  very  deep  snow. 

-  Burckhardt  (Travels  in  Syria,  92)  reports  strong  hoarfrosts  in  Novem- 
ber in  Hauran.  Merrill  (East  of  Jordan,  358)  found  ice  in  the  heart  of 
Gilead  on  March  i8th  with  a  temperature  in  the  air  of  38°. 

^  The  portion  of  the  Eastern  range  from  Arnon  to  Jabbok. 

"*  Burckhardt,  id.  passim.  Buckingham,  Travels,  etc.,  chaps,  xviii.-xxiv., 
Post,  P.E.F.Q.,  1888,  pp.  191,  203-205. 

^  Land  of  Gilead,  102. 

®  i6th  June  to  7th  July  1891. 

'  At  Ghabaghib,  Irbid  (see  p.  65),  and  Wady  Yabis. 

^  At  the  same  time,  in  the  gorges  by  which  the  table-land  is  cut  the  heat 
was  generally  stifling;  cf.  Burckhardt's  experience  in  the  Arnon  on  July  14th. 
—  Travels,  etc.,  373. 


Over  Jordan:  the  General  Features        521 

ripe  corn  swayed  like  the  sea  before  the  wind,^  or  upon 
the  ridges  of  Gilead,  where  the  oak  branches  rustled  and 
their  shadows  swung  to  and  fro  over  the  cool  paths,^ 
most  of  the  twelve  hours  were  almost  as  bracing  as  the 
dawn,  and  night  fell,  not,  as  in  other  parts  of  Palestine, 
to  repair,  but  to  confirm,  the  influences  of  the  day. 
Eastern  Palestine  is  a  land  of  health.  This  was  our 
first  impression,  as  we  rose  to  Hauran  by  the  steppes 
south  of  Pharpar,  the  wind  blowing  over  from  Hermon, 
and  this  was  our  last  impression,  when  we  regretfully 
struck  our  tents  on  the  pastures  of  Moab,  where  the  dry 
herbage  makes  the  breezes  as  fragrant  as  the  heather  the 
winds  of  our  own  Highlands.  Victory  and  Good  P'ortune 
were  the  favourite  deities  of  the  later  Pagans  of  this 
region,  but  their  temples  might  more  fitly  have  been 
dedicated  to  the  goddess  Hygeia. 

But  Eastern  Palestine  does  more  than  fulfil  its  promise 
of  fresh  air.  Broad  and  breezy  as  it  looks  from  afar,  it 
also  looks  barren,  and  when  you  come  upon  it 

The  waters 

surprises  you  by  its  fertility.     Next  to  its  air,    of  Eastern 

.  Palestine. 

its  waters  are  its  most  charming  feature.  West 
of  the  Jordan  no  rivers  run,  and  only  a  few  perennial 
streams,  but  here  are  at  least  four  rivers — Yarmuk,  'Arab, 
Jabbok  and  Arnon,  of  which  the  Yarmuk,  with  its  great 
falls,  is  as  large  as  Jordan.^  These  rivers  drain  the  whole 
country  and  the  desert  behind.  They  run  in  deep  gorges, 
below  the  average  level  of  the  plateau,  but  they  are  fed 
by  numerous  springs  and  streams,  which,  with  the  winter 
snow   and    rains,    sufficiently   water    the    higher    lands.* 

^  See  ch.  xxix. 

2  Post  also  speaks  of  '  the  cool  air  of  the  uplands  of  Gilead.' — P.E.F.Q., 
1S88,  200.  ^  i.e.  before  Jordan  receives  Yarmuk. 

*  Only  on  the  heights  of  the  Belka'  the  water  is  insufficient. 


52  2    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Luxuriant  vegetation  is,  therefore,  almost  universal,  and 
all  agriculture  prosperous.  In  the  most  northerly  of 
the  three  divisions  of  the  country,  from  Hermon  to  the 
Yarmuk,  a  large  part  of  the  surface,  being  of  a  rich 
volcanic  soil,  is  tilled  for  wheat,  and  the  rest 

The  fertility. 

is  covered  by  a  thick  herbage.^  This  is 
Hauran,  the  granary  of  Syria,  and  the  hilly  district  to 
the  west  of  it  was  once  thickly  wooded.  The  middle 
region,  Gilead,  between  the  Yarmuk  and  the  Jabbok,  has 
its  ridges  covered  by  forests,  under  which  you  may  march 
for  the  whole  day  in  breezy  and  fragrant  shade  ;  ^  the 
valleys  hold  orchards  of  pomegranate,  apricot  and  olive, 
there  are  many  vineyards,  on  the  open  plains  are  fields  of 
wheat  and  maize,^  and  the  few  moors  are  rich  in  fragrant 
herbs.*  Gilead  bore  perfume  and  medicine  for  the  whole 
Eastern  world.  They  who  first  break  out  of  her  into 
history  are  a  company  of  Ishmaelites  with  their  camels 
bearing  spicery  and  balm  and  myrrh,  going  to  carry  it  down 
to  Egypt. ^  It  became  a  proverb,  Is  there  no  balm  in 
Gilead,  is  tJiere  no  physician  there  !  and  again,  Go  up  ittto 
Gilead  and  take  balm!^  In  the  third  division,  south  of 
the  Jabbok,  the  forests  gradually  cease,  and  Ammon  and 

^  See  chap.  xxix. 

"  Cf.  Burckhardt,  Travels,  etc.,  348.  'Grateful  shade  of  fine  oak  and 
pistachios,  with  a  scenery  more  like  that  of  Europe  than  any  I  had  yet  seen 
in  Syria.' — Post,  P.E.F.Q.,  1S88,  p.  200.  Oliphant  {Land  of  Gilead,  160) 
aptly  quotes  2  Sam.  xviii.  8 :  the  wood  devoured  i?iore  people  that  day  than  the 
sword.  Of  the  valley  in  which  'Ajlun  lies  he  says  justly  that  it  was  'a  view 
such  as  one  would  expect  to  find  in  the  Black  Forest.'  On  the  fertility  of 
Gilead,  cf.  129,  130. 

^  Like  the  Beka'a  and  the  plateau  above  it  near  Salt. 

4  On  the  botany  see  especially,  Post,  P.E.F.Q.,  1888. 

^  Gen.  xxxvii.  25. 

^  Jer.  viii.  22;  xlvi.  11.  The  substance  is  known  to  botany  as  the  Bal- 
samujn  Gileadense. 


Over  Jordan  :  the  General  FeaUires         523 

Moab  are  mostly  high,  bare  moors,  with  a  few  jungles  of 
bush.  They  are  occasionally  cultivated  for  wheat  and 
once  bore  the  vine. 

More  famous  than  the  tilth  of  Eastern  Palestine  is  her 
pasture.  We  passed  through  at  the  height  of  the  shep- 
herd's year.  From  the  Arabian  deserts  the  The  pastures 
Bedouin  were  swarming  to  the  fresh  summer  ^"^  '''^'''^^• 
herbage  of  these  uplands.  We  should  never  have  be- 
lieved the  amount  of  their  flocks  had  we  not  seen,  and 
attempted  to  count  them.  One  Sunday  afternoon  which 
we  spent  at  Edrei,  the  'Aneezeh  tribe,^  that  roams  from 
Euphrates  to  Jordan,  drove  their  camels  upon  the  plain 
to  the  north  of  the  town,  till  we  counted  nearly  a  thousand 
feeding,  and  there  was  a  multitude  more  behind.  Next 
day  we  passed  their  foes,  the  Beni  Sahr,  one  of  whose 
camel-herds  numbered  four  hundred,  and  another  two 
hundred.  We  looked  south-east  from  the  hills  above 
Amman,  and  there  were  hundreds  more  of  the  Sherarat 
Arabs  from  Ma'an.  Profusion  of  camels  shall  cover  thee, 
camels  of  Midian  and  EpJiah,  all  of  them  front  Sheba  shall 
comer'  The  Bedouin  had  also  many  sheep  and  goats. 
The  herds  of  the  settled  inhabitants  were  still  more  numer- 
ous. In  Moab  the  dust  of  the  roads  bears  almost  no  marks 
but  those  of  the  feet  of  sheep.  The  scenes  which  throng 
most  our  memory  of  Eastern  Palestine,  are  (besides  the 
threshing-floors  of  Hauran)  the  streams  of  Gilead  in  the 
heat  of  the  day  with  the  cattle  standing  in  them,  or 
the  evenings  when  we  sat  at  the  door  of  our  tent  near 
the  village  well,  and  would  hear  the  shepherd's  pipe  far 
away,  and  the  sheep  and  goats,  and  cows  with  the  heavy 
bells,  would  break  over  the  edge  of  the  hill  and  come  down 

1  Or  a  branch  of  it— the  Oulad  'Ali.  ^  Isa.  Ix.  6. 


524   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  slope  to  wait  their  turn  at  the  troughs.  Over  Jordan 
we  were  never  long  out  of  the  sound  of  the  lowing  of 
cattle  or  of  the  shepherd's  pipe. 

And  so  one  understands  why  so  large  a  part  of  the 
annals  of  this  country  is  taken  up  with  the  multiplying 
of  cattle,  tribute  in  sheep  and  wool,^  and  the  taking 
of  spoil  by  tens  of  thousands  of  camels,  and  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  sheep.^  The  bulls  of  Bashan  and  the 
fat  kine  of  Bashan  are  proverbial  throughout  the  Old 
Testament.  '  Thou  canst  not,'  runs  an  Arab  saying, 
'find  a  country  like  the  Belka"  for  cattle  and  sheep.^ 
When  Moses  overcame  Midian  the  spoil  was  reckoned  at 
more  than  half  a  million  of  sheep,  72,000  beeves,  and 
61,000  asses.*  When  the  children  of  Reuben  and  of  Gad, 
who  had  a  very  great  multitude  of  cattle,  saw  the  land  of 
laser  and  Gilead,  they  asked  it  for  themselves,  for  the 
place  was  a  place  for  cattle^  When  Reuben  lingered  in 
his  own  country  and  would  not  cross  Jordan  to  the  help 
of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty,  Deborah  taunted  him  : — 

''By  the  wafer-coutses  of  Rett  ben  great  were  the  resolves! 
Why  then  didst  thou  abide  among  the  sheep-hurdles, 
To  listen  to  the  bleating  of  the  focks  ? 
By  the  water-courses  of  Reuben  there  were  great  resolves  of  heart! ' " 

The  king  of  Moab  is  called  a  sheepmaster,  and  the 
tribute  he  gave  the  king  of  Israel  is  set  at  100,000  lambs, 
and  100,000  rams  with  the  wool.''  Thus  flocks  and  pas- 
tures have  ever  been  the  wealth,  the  charm,  the  temptation 
of  Eastern  Palestine. 

^  2  Chron.  ¥.952  Kings  iii.  4.  ^'2  Chron.  v.  21. 

3  Burckhardt,  369. 

■*  One  cannot,  of  course,  vouch  for  the  truth  of  these  numbers. 

^  Num.  xxxii.  r.  ^  Judges  v.  16.  ^  2  Kings  iii.  4, 


Over  Jordan  :  the  General  FeattLres        525 

The  third  general  feature  of  Eastern  Palestine  is  its 
openness  to  the  desert.  Bashan,  Gilead,  and  Moab  all 
roll   off,  with  almost   no  intervenins:   barrier,   ^ 

o  >     rLxposure  to 

upon  the  great  Arabian  plateau.  Consequently  ''^'^  '^'^'^'^'■'• 
they  have  been  exposed  in  all  ages  to  the  invasion  of  the 
hungry  nomads,  some  of  whom  swarm  upon  them  every 
year  for  pasture,  while  others  have  settled  down  into 
more  permanent  occupation  :  ^  living  in  movable  camps, 
but  cultivating  the  soil.  These  are  the  Ishmaelites  and 
Midianites  of  the  Old  Testament ;  children  of  the  East, 
who  made  Gilead  their  basis  of  operation  against  Western 
Palestine.  It  was  the  sons  of  Ishmael  whom  Balak  called 
to  help  him  against  Israel.  Their  sheikhs  went  with  the 
elders  of  Moab  to  bring  Balaam  from  the  farther  east  to 
curse  the  people  of  Jehovah,-  and  the  last  war  Moses 
undertook  was  to  avenge  Jehovah  upon  Midian.^  Again 
in  the  days  of  the  Judges  they  swarmed  across  Jordan,  and 
every  spring,  pitching  their  black  tents  in  Jezreel,  swept 
off  the  harvests  from  the  valleys  of  Ephraim.  But  Gideon 
beat  them  back  across  the  river,  and  finally  broke  them 
upon  Moab.  He  took  the  two  kings  of  Midiaji,  ZebaJi 
and  Zalnmnnak,  and  discomfited  all  the  host}  The  Day  of 
Midian  was  very  decisive.^  But  though,  for  many  cen- 
turies to  come,  Israel  had  nothing  to  fear  Action  of  the 
on  this  frontier  from  Arabia,  the  tides  rose  •'^''^^^• 
again  in  the  close  of  her  history,^  and  even  till  now 
they    have    flowed    and    ebbed    unceasing.      You    stand 

1  The  Arab  tribes  of  Eastern  Palestine  are  clearly  distinguishable  into 
one  or  other  of  these  classes:  (i)  Bedouin,  whose  range  lies  wholly  within 
Eastern  Palestine,  like  the  'Adwan,  Beni  Sahr,  etc.;  (2)  those  who  come  in 
every  year  from  Arabia  like  the  'Aneezch,  Sherarat,  etc. 

"-  Num.  xxii.  6.  ^  Num.  xxxi.  *  Judges  viii.  12. 

«  Isa.  ix.  4  (Eng.  Vers.).  '•  Josephus,  xiii.  Antt.  xiii.  3. 


526   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

to-day  on  one  of  the  Moab  hills,  and  looking  east  you 
see  nothing  but  a  tossed  and  weary  land,  as  destitute 
of  signs  of  life  as  mid-ocean.  Yet  as  irresistibly  and 
almost  as  regularly  as  ocean  is  drawn  upon  great 
tides  by  the  moon,  so  have  these  trackless  wastes  been 
swept  by  tides  of  men,  drawn  on  by  hunger  and  the 
hope  of  spoil.  Successive  civilisations — Semitic,  Greek, 
Roman,  and  Turkish — have  kept  them  back  for  a  time, 
but  as  these  decayed,  they  have  swept  in  again  with  the 
regularity  and  remorselessness  of  the  sea.  Scattered 
across  Hauran  and  Gilead  were  great  Greek  cities,  the 
military  roads  of  the  Roman  Empire,  large  castles  and 
towers  of  the  Turks.  But  to-day  those  are  all  in  ruins, 
and  the  names  of  many  of  them  forgotten.  Whereas  the 
Bedawee  pitches  his  camps  about  them,  herds  his  sheep  in 
their  courts,  and  calls  himself  by  the  very  names  which  his 
ancestors  bore  there  in  the  days  of  Gideon.  A  Zeeb  still 
leads  a  Midianite  tribe  in  Moab.^  The  Beni-Mesaid  pitch 
their  summer  camp  where  an  inscription  of  214  A.D.  re- 
cords the  presence  of  a  nomad  tribe  of  the  same  name.^ 
They  extort  the  same  blackmail ;  if  it  is  withheld,  they 
sweep  off  the  harvests  in  the  same  ruthless  fashion.^  We 
found  Arab  tents  pitched  near  the  flourishing  town  of 
Irbid,  and  in  the  tents  a  Bedawee  chieftainess,  to  whom 
the  Irbid  people,  in  spite  of  having  a  Turkish  lieutenant- 
governor  and  a  troop  of  soldiers  in  their  midst,  pay 
annual  tribute  for  the  security  of  their  crops.  The  tax  is 
called  by  a  euphemism  Brotherhood,  and  the  town  which 
yields  it  is  known  as  the  sister  of  the  tribe  that  makes  the 

^  'Ali  Di'ab  =  Zeeb  =  wolf,  the  chief  of  the  'Adwan. 
2  Waddington,  22S7  :  (pxM]  Moj'ateSfjj'Wj'. 
^  Or  burn  them,  Burckhardt,  Travels,  etc. 


Over  Jordan  :  the  General  Features        527 

demand.  It  is  so  established  a  custom  that  Government 
allows  it,  and  even  takes  a  percentage  of  their  spoil  from 
the  nomads.^  But  it  was  among  the  ruins  of  an  ancient 
city  that  we  felt  most  the  force  of  these  desert  tides  upon 
Eastern  Palestine.  At  Pella,  overlooking  the  Jordan, 
there  was  once  a  great  town,  with  a  castle,  colonnades, 
mausoleums,  pagan  temples,  and  a  noble  Christian  cathe- 
dral. You  can  now  distinguish  these  only  by  their  base- 
ment lines  and  a  few  pillars.  Scarcely  one  stone  stands 
upon  another.  But  close  beside  them,  when  we  were 
there,  stood  the  tents  of  a  large  Bedawee  tribe.  Frail 
houses  of  hair,  they  were  here  four  thousand  years  ago, 
ere  civilisation  had  left  the  Nile  and  the  Euphrates,  and 
they  flowed  in  again  upon  the  decay  of  one  of  her  most 
powerful  bulwarks.  For  the  Arabs  have  been  like  the 
wild  ocean,  barred  off  for  a  time,  yet  prevailing  at  last  over 
the  patience  and  virtue  of  great  empires. 

We  have  now  discovered  the  secrets  of  the  confusing 
history  of  Eastern    Palestine.     Here   is  a  land  which  is 
blessed  more  than  most  with  health  and  fer-    Result— a 
tility,  but  its  health  is  paralysed  by  its  danger,   lence°inT"' 
its  fertility  has  ever  been  checked  and  blasted    '^security, 
by  the  floods  of  human  barbarism  to  which  it   lies  so 
exposed.     And  hence  the  mingled  brilliance  and  ineffec- 
tiveness of  the  history  of  this  province — the  civilisation 
which  sprang  so  quickly  and  so  richly  from  its  soil,  the 
ruins  which  everywhere  cover  it  to-day.    No  land  possesses 
greater  power  of  recuperation,  but   except  for  the  first 
five  centuries  of  our  era  its  enemies  have  never  given  its 
wounds  time  to  heal.    Israel  planted  on  the  east  of  Jordan 

1  '  Brotherhood,'  Huwah  ;  '  Sister,'  Uht.     Burckhardt  describes  the  whole 
system  as  it  prevails  in  Hauran.  —  Travels,  etc.,  300  ff. 


528   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

tribes  as  valiant  and  righteous  ^  as  those  which  she  brought 
to  the  west,  and  in  a  richer  soil.  Yet  they  had  no  part 
in  the  greatness  of  the  nation,  and  the  Kingdom  and 
Church  of  God  were  built  upon  Western  Palestine. 
Ammon  and  Moab  were  wealthier  than  Judah  and 
Ephraim,  yet  they  never  reached  even  the  merely  political 
achievements  of  the  latter.  We  read  of  many  cities  in 
E^astern  Palestine  in  early  times,  but  which  of  them 
became  famous  ?  We  know  the  sites  of  only  a  very  few. 
The  land  of  Uz  has  been  identified  with  various  parts  of 
Eastern  Palestine  ;  and  indeed  one  could  not  get  a  better 
summary  of  the  whole  history  of  the  region  than  the  story 
of  the  substance  of  Job  and  of  the  disasters  which  swept 
it  away.  But  two  other  proofs  may  be  given  of  the  same 
insecurity  of  so  fertile  a  province. 

One   is   the  existence  of  subterranean  fortresses    and 

towns,  and  of  towns  which  are  of  the  next  degree  to 

Underground  subterranean,  being  built  in  the  heart  of  these 

Cities.  intricate  mazes  of  lava  which  have  spread  and 

cracked  open  in  the  north-east  of  the  region.^ 

The  careful  and  elaborate  architecture  of  these  refuges 

^  Gen.  xlix.  ;  Deut.  xxxiii. 

-  Of  subterranean  towns  the  most  famous  is  that  of  Edrei,  on  which  see 
later,  p.  576.  In  an  inscription  in  Kanawat  (Wadd.  2329)  Agrippa  i. 
blames  the  inhabitants  for  dwelling  in  caves  and  bids  them  build  houses,  cf. 
Joseph,  xiv.  Antt.  xv.  5,  xv.  Antt.  x.  I,  xvi.  A^itt.  ix.  I.  Strabo  (xvi.  2.  20) 
mentions  great  caves  in  the  Trachons  (he  wrongly  says  in  mountains  beyond 
the  Trachons),  one  of  which  could  hold  4000  robbers ;  cf.  Wetzstein,  Reise- 
bericht  iibcr  Haurati  11.  die  Trachonen,  36  ff.  ;  also  what  he  says  of  the  caves 
in  Zumle  and  Es-Suet,  pp.  46  f.  ;  mentioned  also  by  William  of  Tyre,  xxii. 
21,  as  the  '  Cavea  Roob.'  In  Gilead  caves  are  only  less  numerous.  Oliphant 
{Land  of  Gilead,  pp.  147,  161  f.)  was  told  both  by  his  guides  and  the  Turkish 
ofiicials  of  an  underground  village  in  Gilead,  Belvola,  but  did  not  find  it. 
He  thinks  it  near  the  Jebel  Kafkafa.  He  also  heard  of  vast  subterranean 
dwellings  at  a  place  Rehab,  east  of  the  Kala'at  ez  Zerka  (p.  218).  On  the 
great  caverns  at  Arak-el-Emir,  see  Conder's  Heth  and  Moab,  pp.  169  fif.  ;  also 


Over  Jordan  :  the  General  Features        529 

testifies  at  once  to  the  high  culture  of  the  inhabitants  and 
to  the  frequency  of  the  barbaric  invasions  against  which 
they  took  such  formidable  precautions.  History  corrobo- 
rates ;  from  Strabo  to  Wetzstein  we  read  again  and  again 
of  how  the  population  was  run  to  earth/  and  to-day 
travellers  tell  us  that  whole  cityfuls  of  men,  in  order  to 
avoid  some  new  line  of  Arab  invasion,  will  migrate  in  a 
single  night  to  some  other  city  which  had  lain  empty  for 
years  from  a  similar  cause.^  This  sudden  transference  of 
large  numbers  of  the  settled  inhabitants  is  extraordinary ; 
no  two  travellers,  between  whose  visits  ten  years  have 
elapsed,  will  give  you  the  same  account  of  the  cultivation 
or  populousness  of  the  same  district. 

But  this  strange  combination  of  opulence  and  insecurity, 
which  is  the  chief  feature  of  Eastern  Palestine,  is  perhaps 
most  clearly  illustrated  by  the  fortunes  upon  xhe  Greeks 
her  of  Greek  civilisation.  These  healthy  and  ^"^  ^°'"^- 
fertile  plateaus  were  early  discovered  and  occupied  by  the 
Greeks.  Veterans  of  Alexander  the  Great  founded  cities  ; 
the  Syrian  and  Egyptian  dynasties  in  turn  attempted  to 
organise  the  region.  Yet  in  spite  of  all  this  there  was 
achieved  in  Eastern  Palestine  no  permanent  civilisation 
till  the  coming  of  the  Romans.  Across  Jordan  Greek 
remains  of  the  Seleucid  age  are  the  merest  fragments;^ 

P.E.F.  Mem.  on  Eastern  Palestine;  for  cities  in  the  great  lava  mazes,  cf. 
Wetzstein,  op.  cit.  Porter,  Five  Years  in  Damascus,  ii.  The  Leja  is 
covered  with  ruins.  The  remains  of  one  town,  Musmich,  are  three  miles  in 
circumference,  and  so  situated  that  '  it  was  necessary  to  cut  a  road  through 
the  lava  bed  in  order  to  reach  the  city,  which  no  doubt  enjoyed  immunity 
from  attack,  since  the  rock  fields  about  it  are  almost  impassable.' — Merrill, 
East  of  Jordan,  p.  i6. 

^  See  especially  Wetzstein,  Reisebericht,  etc.,  p.  46. 

•  Burckhardt,  Travels.     Post,  op.  cit. 

^  One  or  two  inscriptions  may  date  from  the  Seleucids ;  cf.  those  ^iven  by 
Burckhardt,  Travels  in  Syria. 

2L 


530   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

nor  does  history  record  there  any  real  progress.  It 
required  nothing  less  than  the  genius  of  Rome,  the  power 
of  the  Legions,  the  organisation  of  the  Empire,  to  build 
a  bulwark  between  Syria  and  the  desert ;  and  even  those 
enormous  powers  took  nearly  two  centuries  to  their  task. 
We  shall  follow  the  interesting  details  later  on.  Here  it 
is  only  necessary  to  state  that  Pompey  brought  the  first 
Legions  to  Eastern  Palestine  in  64  B.C.  ;  that  from  that 
year  the  Greek  cities  date  their  civic  eras,  as  if  previously 
they  had  had  no  real  history;  that  Greek  coins  and  inscrip- 
tions begin  to  multiply;  that  the  underground  cities  are 
abandoned,  and  that  Greek  art  and  letters  abundantly 
flourish.  About  106  A.D.  Trajan  creates  another  province 
between  Syria  and  the  eastern  borders  of  the  Empire, 
thus  removing  her  even  from  touch  with  the  desert.  Then 
follows  the  splendid  rule  of  the  Antonines.  Eastern 
Palestine  is  covered  with  roads  ;  her  fields  are  cultivated 
for  some  centuries  in  peace,  and  her  cities  permitted  to 
multiply  to  such  an  extent  that  to-day  the  astonished 
traveller,  as  he  passes  across  her  once  more  Arab-swept 
surface,  can  stand  almost  nowhere  but  the  sites  of  two 
or  three  of  them  are  in  his  view. 

That  no  power  but  Rome  has  ever  held  Eastern  Pales- 
tine secure  against  the  desert,  is  the  crowning  feature  of 
the  strange  history  of  this  land. 


CHAPTER    XXV 

THE    DIVISIONS    AND    NAMES    OF 
EASTERN    PALESTINE 


8S1 


For  this  ChaJ)ter  consult  Maps  I.  and  III, 


THE  DIVISIONS  AND  NAMES  OF  EASTERN 
PALESTINE 

I  ^"ASTERN  Palestine  may  be  said  to  stretch  from 
-I— ^  Hermon  to  the  south  end  of  the  Dead  Sea.  To 
form  a  clear  idea  of  its  provinces  we  must  The  dividing 
note  the  three  large  rivers  which  cut  it  at  right  "^'^'^^" 
angles  to  the  Jordan — the  Arnon,  the  Jabbok,  and  the 
Yarmuk.  Of  these  the  Arnon  has  nearly  always  formed 
the  political  boundary  to  the  south.^  The  other  two,  the 
Jabbok  and  the  Yarmuk,  divide  Eastern  Palestine  into 
three  separate  provinces.  The  southern  face  of  Hermon — 
continued  eastwards  by  the  Jebel  'Aswad — is  properly  the 
northern  boundary  ;  but  round  on  the  east  of  Hermon 
there  is  room  for  the  territory  of  Damascus.  Separated 
by  Anti-Lebanon  from  the  west  and  the  north,  Damascus 
is  thrown  upon  Eastern  Palestine.  But  its  slope  to  the 
desert,  while  all  the  rest  of  the  country  drains  to  the 
Jordan,  as  well  as  the  low  line  of  hills  to  the  south  of  it, 
sufficiently  distinguish  the  territory  of  Damascus  from  the 
three  provinces  which  form  Eastern  Palestine  proper. 
These  we  now  take  from  north  to  south.  Physically  they 
are  quite  distinct. 

^  Israel's  territory  never  went  south  of  Arnon,  and  to-day  the  Arnon  is  the 
practical  boundary  of  the  Turkish  province  of  the  Belka'. 

683 


534   ^^^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


I.  The  Three  Natural  Divisions. 

Across  the  most  northerly  division,  from  Hermon  to 
Yarmuk,  the  limestone  which  forms  the  basis  of  the 
(i)  North  of  country  is  covered  by  volcanic  deposits.  The 
the  Yarmuk.  g^Qj^g  jg  basalt,  the  soil  is  rich,  red  loam 
resting  on  beds  of  ash,  and  there  are  vast  '  harras '  or 
eruptions  of  lava,  suddenly  cooled  and  split  open  into  the 
most  tortuous  shapes.  Down  the  edge  of  the  Jordan 
valley,  and  down  the  border  of  the  desert  run  rows  of 
extinct  volcanoes.  The  centre  of  this  northern  province 
is  a  great  plain,  perhaps  fifty  miles  long  by  twenty  broad, 
scarcely  broken  by  a  hill,  and  almost  absolutely  treeless. 
This  is  Hauran  proper.  To  the  west  of  this,  above  the 
Jordan,  is  the  hilly  and  once  well-wooded  district  of 
Jaulan  ;  to  the  east  the  '  harras '  and  extinct  volcanoes 
already  noticed  ;  and  in  the  south-east  the  high  range 
of  Jebel  Hauran  or  Jebel  ed-Druz.  All  beyond  is  desert 
draining  to  the  Euphrates. 

South  of  the  Yarmuk   the  volcanic   elements   almost 

entirely  disappear  and  the  limestone  comes  to  the  surface. 

(2)  Between  ^^  experienced  an  interesting  proof  of  the 

^ndThe™^'^   suddenness  of  the  change.      In  every  village 

jabbok.         Qf  Hauran  we  had  found  ancient  inscriptions, 

still  legible  in  the  hard  black  basalt ;  but  when  we  crossed 

the  Yarmuk  we  found  almost  no  inscriptions  and  very 

little  carving — the  limestone  is  not  a  material  to  have 

preserved  them.^     Between  the  Yarmuk  and  Jabbok  the 


^  In  the  towns  south  of  the  Yarmuk  the  few  inscriptions  we  came  across 
were  nearly  all  in  basalt.     This  is  true   of  Gadara,  on  the  border  of  the 


Divisions  and  Names  of  Eastern  Palestine  535 

country  is  mainly  disposed  in  high  ridges,  fully  forested  ; 
eastward  there  are  plains.^ 

South  of  Jabbok  the  ridges  and  forests  alike  diminish, 
till  by  the  north  end  of  the  Dead  Sea  the  country  assumes 
the  form  of  an  absolutely  treeless  plateau,  in    (3)  Between 
winter  bleak,  in  summer  breezy  and   fragrant,    an*^}-',^^'^"^ 
This  plateau    is   broken    only  by  deep,  wide,   ^'"O"- 
warm  valleys  like  the  Arnon,  across  which  it  rolls  south 
beyond   our   present  survey.      Eastward    it  is   separated 
from  the  desert  by  low  rolling  hills. 

These  three  sections,  then,  are  physically  distinct 
from  each  other  and  from  the  territory  of  Damascus 
to  the  north.  It  is  unfortunate  that  through  ancient 
history  we  do  not  find  the  same  definitcncss  of  poli- 
tical division  and  nomenclature.  In  Eastern  Palestine 
names  are  everywhere  adrift.  We  are  best  able  to  fix 
those  of  the  present  day,  and  from  them,  we  can  work 
backwards  into  the  past. 


II.  The  Names  and  Divisions  of  To-day. 

To-day  the  chief  line  of  political  division  is  the  Jabbok. 
By  this  the  whole  of  Eastern  Palestine,  except  Damascus, 
is  divided  into  two  Mutasserafliks  or  Provinces. 
South  of  the  Jabbok,  and  compnsmg  the  ridges 
and  table-land  to  the  Arnon,  is  the  Belka'.     The  Belka'  is 
administered  from  Nablus,  but  has  its  own  local  capital  at 

volcanic  region.     In  Gerasa  both  basalt  and  limestone  were  used.     Between 
Yarmuk  and  Jabbok  there  are  one  or  two  extinct  craters  and  some  outcrops 
of  basalt. 
1  See  p.  578. 


536   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Es-Salt.^     North  of  the  Jabbok,  and  as  far  as  the  territory 

Larger       ^^   Damascus,   extends   the    Mutasseraflik   of 

Hauran.      Hauran,2  with  its  capital  at  El-Merkez.=^     It  is 

divided  into  the  following  districts  : — Between  the  Jabbok 

and  the  Yarmuk  lies  the  wooded  district  of 

'Ajlun,  administered  from  Irbid.     North  of  the 

Yarmuk,  along  the  Jordan  Valley  to  the  slopes  of  Hermon 

runs  Jaulan;^  it  is  divisible  into  a  southern  and 

more  arable,  and  a  northern  and  more  rocky 

half;  the  whole  is  administered  from  El-Kuneitrah.     The 

eastern  border  is  the  river  'Allan,  a  tributary  of  the  Yarmuk, 

and  the  Wady  Rukkad,     But  still  east  of  this  lies  the  town 

Sahem  ej-Jaulan,  and  in  Porter's  day  the  Jaulan  extended 

to  the  Hajj  Road.     Other  divisions  of  the  Mutasseraflik  of 

Hauran,  each  under  a  Kaimakam,  are  the  Jebel  ed-Druz, 

administered  from  es-Suweda,  Dera'at,  and  Busr-el-Hariri.^ 

The  great  plain  to  the  east  of  Jaulan  is  called  Hauran 

in   the    narrower    but    popular   sense   of   the   name.      It 

Hauran        stretchcs  north  and  south  from  the  territory  of 

proper.         Damascus  to  the  district  of  'Ajlun,  from  the 

Jebel  'Aswad  to  the  Wady  Shelaleh  or  Upper  Yarmuk.^ 

The  southern  end  of  it  is  called  En-Nukra,  *  the  hollow 

hearth '  of  the  Bedouin,  for  it  lies  low  ^  between  the  hilly 

^  Strictly  speaking,  the  southern  border  is  the  Arnon,  but  practically  the 
Belka'  extends  farther  south.  2  ^/f^  ^nd  not  '  The  Hauran.' 

"  The  early  Arab  geographers  called  all  the  country  from  Damascus  to  the 
Belka',  Saouad  of  Damascus  (Rey,  Col.  Franques,  p.  434).  Those  quoted 
by  Le  Strange  (/"«/.  under  Moslems,  p.  34)  make  the  territory  of  Damascus 
extend  to  the  borders  of  the  Belka',  and  mention  as  districts  within  it : 
Jaidur,  Jaulan,  Hauran  with  its  capital  Busra,  El-Bathanieyyah  with  its 
capital  Edrei,  or  Adhra'ah. 

■*  Surveyed  and  described  by  Schumacher,  The  Jaulan,  London,  1S88, 
translated  from  Z.D.P.  V.  for  1886.     Its  extent  is  about  560  square  miles. 

^  Hartmann  (Z.D.P.  V.  xiii.  61)  says  that  at  present  Es-Salt  is  also  under 
Hauran.  6  Schumacher. 

'  See  p.  552  for  a  proposed  derivation  of  Hauran. 


Divisions  and  Names  of  Eastern  Palestine  537 


Jaulan  on  the  west,  the  Leja  and  more  distant  Jcbel 
Hauran  on  the  east,  and  the  ridge  of  Zumleh  behind 
Edrei  on  the  south.  The  name  Hauran  extends  vaguely 
towards  the  desert,  but  the  features  are  so  varied  as  to  be 
separately  designated.  To  the  east  of  the  plain  there  is 
the  Leja  —  the  long,  low  flood  of  lava,  'the  tempest  in 
stone ' — twenty-four  miles  by  ten  to  twenty.^  East  of  this 
is  another  plain,  the  Wady  Liwa  or  Nimreh,  the  upper  part 
of  which  is  called  'Ard  el  Beteniyeh  ;  ^  while  to  the  south 
of  this  is  the  Jebel  Hauran  or  Druz,  on  which  Druse  Sheikhs 
hold  themselves  half  independent  of  the  Government. 

From  Damascus  the  Hajj  Road  traverses  the  Hauran 
plain  to  Muzeirib,  on  the  sources  of  the  Yarmuk,  and 
thence  the  desert  to  the  east  of  'Ajlun  and  the  ^j^^  jj  •• 
Belka'.^  It  is  a  very  ancient  line  of  traffic  to  '"°^'^- 
the  Gulf  of  Akaba ;  but  in  early  Arab  history  a  more 
frequented  route  into  Arabia  was  that  which  held  east- 
ward through  Bosra,  and  in  those  days  Bosra,  or  Eski- 
Shem,  disputed  with  Damascus  the  front  rank  among 
cities  in  this  region. 

With  these  divisions  and  names  of  to-day  before  us, 
we  can  now  go  back  to  the  disposition  of  the  land  as  it 
was  in  the  Greek  period  and  at  the  time  of  Christ,  and 
then  to  its  arrangement  in  Old  Testament  history." 

^  Length  from  Burak  to  Tell  Dubbeh  ;  breadth  in  the  south  at  Shuhbah 
twenty  miles,  but  tapering  gradually  to  a  round  headland  on  the  north. 

-  So  in  Stubel's  chart,  and  Fischer  and  Guthe's  map. 

^  The  arrangement  of  Eastern  Palestine  at  the  time  of  the  Crusades  would 
only  disturb  our  study  of  its  ancient  divisions,  so  I  put  as  much  as  we  know 
of  it  in  this  note. 

The  Crusaders  called  Eastern  Palestine  Oultre  Jourdain.     To  the  south  the 

Seigneurie  of  Krak  and  Montreal  extended  from  the  Arnon    „    .       „  , 

=•  Eastern  Pales- 

to   Mount    Sinai   (Rey,    Colonies  Frat:qves, .  p.    393).      The    tine  and  the 
territory  of  Suete,  or  Suhetc,  was  the  Jaulan,  and  was  under    Crusades, 
the  Principality  of  Galilee  (IHd.   434).     The   name  is  either  the  same  as 


538   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

III,  Divisions  and  Names  in  the  Greek  Period  : 
THE  Time  of  Christ. 

In  the  Greek  period  the  general  name  for  all  Eastern 
Palestine  was    Coele-Syria.^     This  had  at  first  been  be- 
stowed upon  the  hollow  between  the  Lebanons,^ 
and  was  thence  loosely  stretched  over  the  whole 
of  Southern    Syria    except    Phoenicia.^     But   before    the 
Romans  came  it  seems  to  have  been  restricted  again  to 
the  east   of  the  Jordan,  and  by  officially   separating  it 
from  Phoenicia  and  Judaea,  the  Romans  confirmed  this 
restriction.*     To  Josephus,  Coele-Syria  is  all  Eastern  Pales- 
tine,^ and  the  only  town  west  of  the  Jordan  which  be- 
longed to  it  was  the  capital  of  the  Decapolis,  Beth-Shan.*^ 
Thus  restricted  to  Eastern  Palestine,  Coele-Syria  con- 
sisted, to  the  south  of  the  Yarmuk,  of  Peraea  and  the 
Divided  by    i^iterlaced    region    of  Decapolis,   and,  to   the 
the  Yarmuk.  north  of  the  Yarmuk,  of  the  various  provinces 
which  in  the  time  of  Christ  made  up  the  tetrarchy  of 

the  Suwade   of  the  Arab  geographers   or  the   modern    El-Suet  =  ^_..  ^s  ..^\\ 

mentioned  by  Wetzstein  (Reisebericht,  p.  46),  Gilead  the  Crusaders  do  not 
appear  to  have  held.  Baldwin  I.  took  tribute  about  Es-Salt  in  11 18  (Ray, 
p.  435).  Two  expeditions  reached  Bosra  in  11 13  and  11 19.  In  1125  and 
1 129  they  did  not  advance  beyond  Suete. 

"  To  which  it  is  perhaps  still  confined  in  i  Esdr.  iv.  48. 

"  '  Coele-Syria  and  Phoenicia,'  I  Esdrasii.  17,  24,  27  ;  vi.  29  ;vii.  i  ;  viii.  67; 
I  Mace.  X.  69 ;  2  Mace.  iii.  5,  8,  where  Jerusalem  is  given  as  one  of  its 
towns;  2  Mace.  iv.  4  ;  viii.  8 ;  x.  11.  Polybius,  v.  80,  and  Diodorus  Siculus, 
xix.  59,  include  the  Philistine  coast.  Even  Josephus  once  uses  it  in  this  general 
sense,  xiv.  Antt,  iv.  5  :  '  Ccele- Syria  as  far  as  the  river  Euphrates  and  Egypt.' 

*  In  47  B.C.  they  gave  the  military  charge  of  it  to  Herod,  xiv.  Antt.  ix.  5. 
ffTpaTTjybsTrjs  KoiXris  Si'ptas,  i.  Wars,  x.  8.  In  this  passage  Coele-Syria  is  dis- 
tinct from  Samaria  (8),  Galilee  (5),  and,  of  course,  Judrea;  cf.  Pliny,  H.N.,  v.  9. 

^  xiii.  Antt.  xiii.  3,  including  Moab  and  Amnion  ;  cf.  i.  Antt.  xi.  5. 

®  xiii.  Antt.  xiii.  2. 


Divisions  and  Names  of  Eastern  Palestine  539 

Philip, — Gaulanitis,  Auranitis,  Batanca,  Trachonitis  and 
Ituraean  land.  That  is  to  say,  while  to-day  the  Jabbok  is 
the  principal  line  of  division,  and  the  Yarmuk  subsidiary, 
in  Greek  days  it  was  the  Yarmuk  which  was  the  chief 
frontier  with  the  Jabbok  subsidiary. 

Peraea  was  properly  identical  with  the  modern  Belka', 
or  the  region  between  Jabbok  and  Arnon.  In  one  passage 
Josephus  says  that  it  stretched  from  Pella,  or 
just  south  of  the  Jabbok,  to  Machaerus,  or  just 
north  of  the  Arnon,  and  from  the  Jordan  to  Philadelphia.^ 
But  the  name,  which  simply  means  the  land  across,  must 
have  been  used  also  in  a  wider  sense,  for  elsewhere 
Josephus  calls  Gadara,  on  the  very  banks  of  the  Yarmuk, 
the  capital  of  Persea.-  North  of  the  Yarmuk  Peraea  did 
not  stretch.  By  Herod's  will,  confirmed  by  Augustus, 
Peraea  was  assigned  with  Galilee  to  Antipas.  Geo- 
graphically this  was  an  awkward  conjunction,  for  Galilee 
is  the  district  with  which  Peraea  has  the  slightest  natural 
connection,  while  it  was  thus  cut  off  from  the  regions 
immediately  opposite,  across  the  Yarmuk  and  the  Jordan. 
There  were,  however,  reasons,  both  racial  and  religious, 
for  the  arrangement.  North  of  the  Yarmuk  the  inhabi- 
tants were  mainly  Greek,  and  across  the  Jordan  Samaria 
was  Samaritan  ;  but  in  Peraea,  as  in  Galilee,  Jews  formed 
the  bulk  of  the  population  ;  ^  and,  narrow  as  the  strip 
must  have  been  which  connected  the  two  provinces,  it 
formed  an  easy  and  convenient  passage.  The  Jews 
always  regarded  Peraea,  Galilee,  and  Judaea  as  the  three 

^  iii.  Wars,  iii.  3. 

2  iv.  Wars,  vii.  3.  Schlatter,  however  (Zur  Topographic  u.  Geschichte 
Paldstinas,  48  IT. ),  insists  that  another  Gadara  or  Gadora,  probably  Es-Salt, 
is  here  meant. 

2  Josephus,  XX.  Antt.  i.  i  ;  iv.  Wars,  vii.  4-6. 


540   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Jewish  provinces  ;  ^  and  when  the  Galilean  pilgrims  came 
up  to  the  feasts  at  Jerusalem  by  Peraea,  they  felt  they  had 
Tesusin  travelled  all  the  way  on  Jewish  soil.  When 
Peraea.  Mark  says,  Christ  conieth  into  the  borders  of 
Jndcea  and  over  Jordan,  it  is  Peraea  that  he  means  by 
the  latter.^  Here  Christ  met  with  Jewish  doctors,  who 
tempted  Him,  with  a  Jewish  ruler  who  knew  the  law,  and 
with  Jewish  mothers  who  brought  their  children  to  Him, 
that  He  might  lay  His  hands  upon  them. 

North  of  the  Jabbok  Peraea  intermingled  with  '  the 
region  of  Decapolis.'  ^  Only  in  a  vague  way  can  Deca- 
polis  be  called  a  geographical  quantity.  It  was  really  the 
part  of  Eastern  Palestine  in  which  lay  the  cities  of  that 
famous  league,  their  suburbs  and  the  considerable  terri- 
tories over  which  they  exercised  rights  of  property  and 
influence.  These  cities  lay  mostly  south  of  the  Yarmuk, 
but  there  were  at  least  four  to  the  north  of  that  river. 
As  we  are  to  discuss  them  separately,  more  need  not 
be  said  here. 

When  we  come  north  of  the  Yarmuk,  the  definition  of 
boundaries  and  names  in  the  Greek  period  is  much  more 
Philip's  difficult.  Our  starting-point  is  Philip's  legacy 
Tetrarchy.  under  the  will  of  Herod,  confirmed  by  Augustus 
in  4  B.C.  According  to  this,  Philip's  tetrarchy  comprised 
Gaulanitis,  Batanea,  Trachonitis,  Auranitis,  and  a  certain 
'  part  of  the  house  of  Zenodorus '  about  Paneas,  or  practi- 
cally all  the  territory  from  Hermon  to  the  Yarmuk  and 
the  frontier  of  Nabatea,  which  ran  to  the  south  of  Kanatha 

^  So  frequently  on  the  Mishna.     Neubauer,  Geog.  dii  Talmud. 

"  Mark  x.  i.,  according  to  Westcott  and  Hort's  reading:  ra  opia  ttjs 
'lovSaias  Kalircpav  rod 'lopdavov, 

^  Pliny,  H.N.  \.  i6  :  DecapoUtana  Regio.  Note  his  words,  'has  urbes 
intercursant. 


Divisions  and  Names  of  Eastern  Palestine  541 

and  Hebran,  but  to  the  north  of  Bosra  and  Salkhat.^  The 
same  is  defined  by  the  authorised  version  of  Luke  as 
Iturcea  and  the  region  of  Trachonitis,  or,  as  some  prefer  to 
render  it,  the  region  Itunean  and  of  Trachonitis? 

There  can  be  no  doubt  about  Gaulanitis.  That  pro- 
vince must  have  been  practically  the  same  as  the  present 
Jaulan,  or  all  the  country  along  the  Jordan 

.  .     {a)  Gaulanitis. 

Valley  between  the  Yarmuk  and  Hermon,vvith 
an  uncertain  eastern  border  along  perhaps  the  river  'Allan. 
Like  Jaulan,  Gaulanitis  was  divided  into  an  Upper  and 
a  Lower  Department,^  and,  just  as  to-day,  the  eastern 
coast  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  was  cut  off  from  it,  and 
administered  from  Tiberias.*  The  northern  end  of  the 
Gaulanitis  seems  also  to  have  been  known  by  the  names 
of  Ulatha^  and  the  district  of  Paneas. 

Nor  is  there  much  difficulty  about  Auranitis.  The 
name  is  the  same  as  Hauran.  We  have  nowhere  a  defini- 
tion of  its  limits,  but  probably,  like  Hauran 

.  {b)  Aiiranitis. 

to-day,  it  was  properly  the  great  plam  east  of 

Jaulan,^   with   the    same   loose   extension    south    to   the 

^  xvii.  Antt.  viii.  i,  Gaulanitis,  Trachonitis,  and  Paneas;  xi.  4,  Batanea, 
Trachonitis,  Auranitis,  and  a  certain  part  of  the  house  of  Zenodorus  ;  xviii. 
Antt.  iv.  6,  Trachonitis,  Gaulanitis,  and  the  nation  of  the  Bataneans ; 
ii.  Wars,  vi.  3,  Batanea,  Trachonitis,  Auranitis,  and  certain  parts  of  Zcno's 
house  about  Jamnia,  for  which  read  Paneas.  In  iii.  Wars,  iii.  5  :  The 
region  of  Gamala,  and  Gaulanitis,  and  Batanea,  and  Trachonitis  are  given 
as  the  parts  of  the  kingdom  of  Agrippa.  '  This  country  begins  at  Mount 
Libanus,'  i.e.  Anti-Lebanon  or  Hermon,  'and  the  fountains  of  Jordan,  and 
reaches  breadthway  to  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,'  i.e.  the  south  end,  'and  in 
length  extends  from  a  village  called  Arpha,'  unknown,  *as  far  as  Julias,'  i.e. 
Bethsaida  on  the  Jordan.  '  Its  inhabitants  are  Jews  and  Syrians  mixed.'  For 
the  frontier  between  Philip's  tetrarchy  and  Nabatea,  see  pp.  617,  619,  621. 

-  Luke  iii.  I  :  t-^s  'Iroupatas  koX  Tpaxij^" (■ridos  x'^P"-^- 

^  Josephus,  iv.  Wars,  i.  I.  ■*  Sec  p.  416,  n.  I. 

^  Perhaps  the  same  name  as  the  modern  Lake  liuleh.  Josephus,  xv. 
Antt.  X.  3.     See  p.  481.  ®    See  p.  536. 


542    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Nabatean  border/  and  south-eastwards  to  the  Jebel 
Hauran,  the  Mons  Alsadamus  or  Asalmanos  of  Ptolemy.^ 
Our  difficulties  begin  with  Batanea.  Batanea  was  the 
Greek  form  of  the  ancient  Bashan,^  and  was  originally 
applied,  like  the  latter,  in  a  general  way,  to  all 
the  country  north  of  the  Yarmuk.  But  in  a 
special  sense  Batanea  was  distinguished  from  Trachonitis 
and  Auranitis  as  only  a  part  of  Philip's  tetrarchy,^  It 
bordered  on  Trachonitis,^  that  is,  the  territory  round  the 
Leja ;  the  road  by  which  Jewish  pilgrims  came  from 
Babylon  to  Jerusalem  passed  across  it,^  and  it  seems  to 
have  been  near  to  the  territory  of  Gamala  in  Gaulanitis.'^ 
Most  probably,  therefore,  Batanea  lay  between  the  Leja 
and  Gilead,  in  the  present  En-Nukra.^  Certainly  the 
name  was  still  here  in  the  fourth  century^  and  in  the 
tenth ;  ^^  but  it  has  now  drifted,  as  we  have  seen,  round  to 
the  east  of  the  Leja.^^  Very  doubtful  is  the  suggestion 
that  we  should  recognise  Batanea  in  the  Bethany  beyond 
Jordan,  where  John  was  baptizing}'^ 

^  This  is  probable  from  the  fact  that  Zenodorus  wished  to  sell  Auranitis 
to  the  Nabateans,  xvii.  Antt.  x.  2. 

^  Wetzstein,  p.  90  :  'AaeXdafios,  '  AaaX/xavos,  'AXaaXafios. 

^  Sojosephus,  iv.  AfitL  vii.  4;  ix.  A;2ii.  viii.  i  ;  and  so  the  Onomasticon, 
art.  Bacrdv  :  aurij  Baffaj'trts  ■f)  vvv  Kakovixivt]  Baravala. 

^  XV.  Anii.  x.  i  :  i.  Wars,  xx.  4.  In  his  Lzye,  11,  Josephus  talks  of 
'  the  Trachonites  in  Batanea.'  Ecbatana,  in  this  section,  should  probably 
be  read  BaOvpa,  see  p.  618. 

^  xvii.  AnU.  ii.  i  :  '  the  toparchy  called  Batanea,  which  country  is 
bounded  by  Trachonitis. '  ^  Idz'd.  2. 

"^  This  is  to  be  inferred  from  Josephus,  Li/e,  11.  ^  See  p.  536. 

^  Eusebius,  Onomaitzcott,  places  Astaroth  and  Edrei  or  Adraa  in  Batanea. 

■"^  Idrisi  (quoted  by  Wetzstein,  Reiscbericht,  87)  places  Edrei  in  Betheniyeh. 

"  See  p.  537. 

^2  John's  Gospel,  i.  28,  according  to  the  best  reading  (Westcott  and  Hort). 
The  suggestion  is  Conder's  (7".  W.),  Bethany  must  be  the  name  of  a  town, 
defined  as  acrcf..  Jo7-da7i,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  other  Bethany.  Batanea 
would  have  stood  without  such  definition. 


Divisions  and  JVanies  of  Eastern  Palestine  543 

Trachonitiswas  the  territory  which  contained  thcTrachon 
or  Trachons.  These  are  described  by  Strabo  as  '  the  two 
so-called  Trachones'  lying  'behind  Damascus.'^ 

.p,  *.u  1      r-        1  i.u  (<!')  Trachonitis. 

Ihe  name,  the  only  Cjreek  one  among  those 
we  are  discussing,  corresponds  exactly  to  the  two  great 
stretches  of  lava,  *  the  tempests  in  stone,'  which  lie  to  the 
south-east  of  Damascus — the  Leja  and  the  Safa.^  Each 
of  these  is  called  by  the  Arabs  a  Wa'ar,  a  word  meaning 
rough,  stony  tract,  and  thus  equivalent  to  Trachon.  The 
latter,  beyond  the  reach  of  civilisation,  was  little  regarded, 
and  the  Leja  became  known  as  the  Trachon/^;'  excellence, 
as  is  proved  by  two  inscriptions  at  either  end  of  it — 
in  Musmi'eh,  the  ancient  Phaena,  and  at  Bereke,  each 
of  which  is  called  a  chief  town  of  the  Trachon.^  Now  the 
Trachonitis  was  obviously  the  Trachon,  plus  some  terri- 
tory round  it.*  In  the  north  it  extended  westward  from 
the  borders  of  the  Leja  to  the  districts  of  Ulatha  and 
Paneas  in  the  northern  Jaulan  ;  ^  and  in  the  south  it 
bordered  with  Batanea,^  but  also  touched  Mons  Alsa- 
damus,  the  present  Jebel  Hauran.''  Philo  uses  the  name 
Trachonitis  for  the  whole  tetrarchy  of  Philip.^ 

^  Strabo  xvi.  2.  20.     T/3axwj'  =  a  rough,  stony  place. 

"  Wetzstein,  Reisebericht,  36  ff. 

'  That  in  Musmieh  is  given  by  Burckhardt,  p.  117,  and  Wadd.,  2524; 
date  about  225  A.D.  That  in  Bereke  is  given  by  Wadd.,  2396.  The 
word  used  is  fn]TpoKO)iJ.ta,  which,  since  it  is  used  twice,  can  scarcely  be 
metropolis,  as  Merrill  {East  of  Jordan,  p.  20)  translates,  but  is  chief  town  of 
a  group  of  villages. 

■*  Josephus  gives  Tpd^w  in  xv.  Antt.  x.  i  (cf.  xvi.  Antt.  iv.  6),  but  in  the 
parallel  passage,  i.  Wars,  xx.  4,  Tpoxwiru. 

^  XV.  Antt.  X.  3.  The  Leja  itself  could  scarcely  be  described  as  bordering 
with  Ulatha.  ^  Josephus,  xvii.  Antt.  ii.  I,  2. 

^  Ptolemy  (v.  15.  4)  speaks  of  the  TpaxwtVat  "A^^a/3es  under  the  Mons 
Alsadamus. 

8  Legat.  ad  Cajum,  41.  In  the  fourth  century  Eusebius  places  Tracho- 
nitis north-east  of  Bosra,  south  of  D.imascus,  and  in  the  desert. 


544   1^^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

The  portion  of  Philip's  tetrarchy  most  difficult  to  define 
is  the  Ituraean.  Did  this  cover  or  overlap  Trachonitis,  or 
was  it  a  separate  province  ?  Luke's  reference  ^ 
is  ambiguous,  and  we  have  no  modern  echo  of 
the  name  to  guide  us.^  In  ancient  times  much  is  said  of  the 
Ituraei,  a  vigorous,emphatic  breed  of  men, famous  as  archers. 
They  are  sung  by  Virgil  and  Lucan  ;^  they  fight  with  Caesar 
in  Africa  ;  *  they  rattle  with  their  arrows  through  the 
Forum  itself,  a  defiant  bodyguard  for  Mark  Antony,  till 
Cicero  cries  out  against  the  insult  to  the  Senate.^  They 
were  wild  border-men  between  Syria  and  Arabia,  to  both 
of  which  they  were  reckoned  by  ancient  writers.  They 
were  of  an  Ishmaelite  stock,^  like  the  Nabateans,  and 
Strabo  speaks  of  them  as  mixed  with  Arabs,  and  as  in- 
habiting the  same  inaccessible  highlands  as  the  Arabs.'^  It 
is  probably  because  of  their  semi-nomadic  character  that 
for  long  there  was  no  region  definitely  called  Ituraea ;  except 
once  by  Tacitus,  the  name  is  not  used  as  a  noun  before 
the  fourth  century  of  our  era,  and  doubtfully  even  then.^ 

^  Luke  iii.  i.     See  p.  541,  n.  2. 

^  Jedur,  ,«tXAs^,  the  name  of  the  plain  to  the  north  of  Hauran,  has  been 
quoted  by  many  as  equivalent  to  Ituroea  (Robinson,  Conder,  etc.),  but  on 
what  grounds  it  is  impossible  to  see.     The  words  are  utterly  different. 

^  Georg.  ii.  448  ;  Pharsalia,  vii.  230,  514.  Reland  also  quotes  Vibius 
Sequester,  de  Gentibus  :  '  Ithyrei  usu  sagittae  periti. ' 

*  Bell.  Afric.  20. 

^  '  They  ' — "the  barbarians,"  as  he  calls  them — '  filled  these  very  benches.' 
— Philippics,  \\.  19,  112;  xiii.  18. 

^  They  are  no  doubt  the  same  as  the  TitJS  Jetur,  of  Gen.  xxv.  15,  men- 
tioned with  other  Ishmaelite  tribes  of  Arabs.     Cf.  I  Chron.  i.  30,  v.  19, 

'  xvi.  ii.  18  :  rd  filv  odf  dpeiva  ^%oiicrt  TravTO.  'Irovpaloi  re  Kal  "ApajSes. 
20  :  SireiTa  Trpis  to,  'Apd^wv  /J-epr]  Kal  tuiv  'iTovpaiojf  avajxlk,  6p7]  dijcrpdra. 

^  Professor  W,  M.  Ramsay,  Expositor  for  January,  February,  April  1894. 
The  only  Greek  passage  in  which  Itursea  appears  before  the  fourth  century 
is  Josephus  xiii.  Antt.  xi,  3,  according  to  the  older  editions  :  IIoXejUTjcras 
'iToi^paiac.  But  this  should  be  as  in  Niese's  edition  'Irovpalovs,  which  is 
given    in   some   codices,    and   is    more    suitable    to    the    grammar.       See 


Divisions  and  Names  of  Eastern  Palestine  545 


But  the  tribe  had  a  more  or  less  distinct  territory,  on  which, 
following  the  example  of  many  other  nomads  of  the  Syrian 
border,  they  settled  for  a  time,  as  a  kingdom  with  a  capital. 
Schlirerhas  proved  this  territory  to  have  been  in  the  main 
Anti-Lebanon,  their  capital  Chalcis  in  the  Beka';  for  a  time 
the  sway  of  their  ruler  extended  over  Lebanon  also.^  In 
105  B.C.  their  territory  bordered  with  Galilee,"  and  Schiirer 
thinks  their  name  covered  also  a  part  of  Galilee  ;  but  this 
is  improbable.  If  the  name  thus  spread  down  the  slopes 
of  Anti- Lebanon  westwards  to  Galilee,  it  may  also  have  ex- 
tended down  the  same  hill  south-eastwards  upon  the  dis- 
tricts of  Paneas,  and  eastwards  towards  Trachonitis.  The 
Ituraeans  were  Arabs,  and  Strabo's  statement  that  they 
inhabited  inaccessible  highlands  along  with  Arabs  must 
refer  to  districts  east  of  Anti-Lebanon.  We  gather,  then, 
that  the  Iturceans  extended  a  good  deal  farther  east  than 
Schiirer  seems  willing  to  admit.  At  the  same  time  Strabo 
carefully  distinguishes  the  two  Trachonsfrom  the  parts  occu- 
pied by  Ituraeans  and  Arabs  together.    We  may  therefore 

Expositor  for  March  1894,  p.  236.  This  altered  reading  removes  the  last 
Greek  precedent  for  interpreting  ttJs  ''\Tovpoias  in  Luke  iii.  i  as  a  noun. 
Schiiier  still  speaks  of  Itursea  as  a  noun,  quoting  Josephus,  xiii.  Antt. 
xi.  3  according  to  the  reading  'Iroupat'ac. 

^  Schiirer,  History  of  the  Jewish  People,  Eng.  ed.,  div.  i.  vol.  ii.,  Appen- 
dix i.  :  'The  History  of  Chalcis,  Itursea,  and  Abilene.'  His  evidence  for 
Anti-Lebanon  is  fourfold,  (i)  Josephus,  xiii.  Antt.  xi.  3,  places  the  Iturrean 
country  in  the  north  of  Galilee,  in  105  B.C.  (2)  On  an  inscription  of  about 
6  A.D.  (alluded  to  by  Prof.  Ramsay,  p.  147)  Q.  j^milius  Secundus  relates 
that  being  sent  by  Quirinius  '  adversus  Iturxos  in  Libano  monte  castellum 
eorum  cepi '  {Ephemeris  Epigraphica,  1881,  537-542)-  (3)  Dion  Cassius 
(xlix.  32)  calls  Lysanias  king  of  the  Iturceans,  and  the  same  writer  (lix.  12) 
and  Tacitus  {Ann.  xii.  23)  call  Soemus  governor  of  the  same  ;  but  Lysanias 
ruled  the  Lebanon  district  from  the  sea  to  Damascus,  with  his  capital  at 
Chalcis,  and  Soemus  was  tetrarch  at  Lebanon  (Josephus,  Vita,  xi. ).  (4) 
Above  all,  Strabo  puts  the  Iturreans  in  Anti-Lebanon  (xvi.  ii.  16)  :  tt)v 
'Irovpaicov  opelvrjv.  18  :  tIvo,  koI  opeivd  iv  oh  rj  XoXkJs  Cianep  aKpiiroKii  tov 
Ma(T<n'ov{i.e.  the  Beka'),  "  xiii.  Anti.  xi.  3.      Seep.  414. 

2  M 


546   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

conclude  that  the  Ituraeans,  though  scattered  towards  the 
Trachonitis,  occupied  a  distinct  territory.  About  25  B.C., 
however,  part  of  the  Itursean  domains  on  the  south  of 
Hermon  was  under  the  same  ruler  as  Trachonitis,  Zeno- 
dorus  by  name.^  Again,  in  20  B.C.,  that  same  part  of 
the  Ituraean  territory  and  Trachonitis  were  both  under 
Herod  ;  and  from  4  B.C.  to  34  A.D.  they  were  both  under 
Philip.^  Now,  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  names  of  terri- 
tories which  bordered  each  other  and  were  under  the  same 
ruler  should  have  overlapped.  As  a  fact,  we  have  seen  that 
Philo  called  all  Philip's  tetrarchy  by  the  name  of  Tracho- 
nitis. Conversely,  did  the  name  *  Iturjean '  spread  across 
Trachonitis  ?  We  have  no  evidence  that  it  did  during  the 
first  century.  But  the  fact  is  possible.  Within  the  last  few 
years  the  Druzes  emigrating  from  Lebanon  have  bestowed 
their  name  on  the  Jebel  Hauran,  which  is  as  often  called  the 
Jebel  Druz.  The  Ituraeans  might  have  effected  a  similar 
transference  of  their  name  to  the  Trachonitis,  especially 
in  6  A.D.,  when  the  Romans  captured  their  seats  in  Anti- 
Lebanon.2  At  the  same  time  Strabo,  writing  after  this 
event,  still  keeps  the  Ituraean  territory  and  Trachonitis 
quite  distinct.  The  questions,  therefore,  whether  Luke 
meant  to  signify  by  his  words  two  distinct  portions  of 
Philip's  tetrarchy,  or  two  equivalent  or  overlapping  names 
for  it ;  and  whether,  on  either  of  these  interpretations 
of  his  words,  he  was  correct — are  questions  to  which  the 
geographical  data  of  the  first  century  supply  us  with  no 

^  XV.  Aiitt.  X.  I  ;  i.  Wars,  xx.  4.  '  Zenodorus,  who  had  leased  the  house 
of  Lysanias,  king  of  the  Ituraeans '  (Dion  Cassius,  xlix.  32),  which  included 
Uiatha  and  Paneas  and  the  country  round  about. 

-  In  whose  tetrarchy  '  a  certain  part  of  the  house  of  Zenodorus '  represents 
the  Itursean  region  south  and  south-east  of  Hermon. 

^  See  previous  page,  note  i,  No.  (2). 


Divisions  and  Names  of  Eastern  Palestine  547 

certain  answer.  It  is  quite  true  that  Eusebius  in  the  fourth 
century  makes  Ituraea  and  Trachonitis  equivalent ;  but 
the  name  Ituraea  was  dead  by  his  day,  and  his  evidence 
cannot  be  ranked  with  that  of  the  first  century.^ 

Behind  Ituraea,  on  the  Upper  Abana  or  Barada,  lay 
Abilene,  which  Luke  gives  as  the  tctrarchy  of  Lysanias,- 
and  in  the  Beka'  Chalcis,  but  these  are  beyond  our  limits. 

In  New  Testament  times  the  whole  region  to  the  east 
and  south  of  Eastern  Palestine  was  known  as  Arabia. 
The  population  were  an  Arab  tribe  or  tribes  'Arabia'— Thn 
known  as  the  Nabateans,^  who  at  the  beginning  Nabateans. 
of  the  third  century  before  Christ  had  settled  down  partly 
to  agriculture  and  partly  to  commerce.  About  100  B.C. 
they  became  a  powerful  kingdom.  Their  capital  was 
Petra,^  but  their  influence  extended  all  round  Syria,  from 
Damascus,  which  fell  into  their  hands  in  87  B.C.,  after  they 
had  defeated  the  Syrians,^  to  Gaza,*'  and  far  in  to  the 
centre  of  Arabia.'^  Their  inscriptions  are  scattered  over 
all  Eastern  Palestine,  where  they  had  many  settlements, 
and  in  x^rabia,  but  have  even  been  discovered  in  Italy, 
proving  the  extent  of  their  trade.^  Their  relations  with 
Rome  we  shall  follow  later  on.^ 

^  This  is  abridged  from  my  article  in  the  Expositor  Iqx  March  1S94.  See 
further,  p.  554. 

"  Luke  iii.  I.  The  capital  of  Abilene  was  Abila,  the  ruins  of  which  are  still 
to  be  found  at  Suk  on  the  Barada. 

2  Identified  by  some  with  the  Nebaioth  of  the  Old  Testament. 

*  Josephus,  xiv.  Antt.  iv.  5  ;  xvii.  Antt.  iii.  2,  etc.  etc. ;  i.  Wars,  vi.  2, 
etc.  ;  Straboxvi.  ii.  34  ;  iv.  2,  18  ;  especially  21  ff.;  Pliny,  H.N.  vi.  28. 

5  Josephus,  xiii.  Antt.  xv.  2  ;  i.  Wars,  iv.  7.  ^  Ibid.  xiii.  Anlt.  xiii.  3. 

7  At  Ilejra,  or  Medain-es-Salih,  on  the  Hajj  route  to  Mecca,  there  are 
great  numbers  of  Nabatean  tombs  and  inscriptions.  Doughty,  Arabia 
Deserea,vo\.  i.     Corpus  Inscript.  Semiticarum,  Pars  II.  torn.  i.  183  fT. 

8  C.I.S.,  as  in  previous  note  ;  also  for  the  Greek  ones,  Waddington. 
®  Chapters  xxvi.  and  xxix. 


548   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Laizd 


IV.  In  Old  Testament  Times. 

When  we  pass  back  into  the  Old  Testament  we  again 

find    Eastern   Palestine,  now   known   as  Over-Jordan  or 

'Abarim/  divided  into  three  parts.   But  the  lines  of 

'Abarim.      ,...  -r,-  ,  itiiii 

division  are  not  now  Yarmuk  and  Jabbok,  but 
Yarmuk  and  that  line  twenty-five  miles  to  the  south  of  Jab- 
bok, which  divides  the  table-land  of  Moab  from  the  ridges  to 
the  north  of  it.^  All  on  the  south  of  this  to  the  Arnon  is 
Mishor  or  Table-land  ;  all  to  the  north  of  it,  as  far  as  the 
Yarmuk  isGilead;  and  all  to  the  north  of  Yarmuk  is  Bashan.^ 
The  Mishor,^  or  Table-land,  covered  the  southern  half 
of  the  Belka',     It  was  sometimes  called   the 

I  l)  The  Mishor.   -,.    ,.  r     -hit      t     ^         f  i-i  i'i 

Mishor  of  Medeba,-"  which  town  on  a  high 
mound  is  conspicuous  across  the  whole  of  it.  It  was  also 
the  Sharon  of  Eastern  Palestine.® 

The  rest  of  the  Belka',  from  Heshbon  to  the  Jabbok, 

formed  the  southern  half  of  Gilead  ;'^  the  other 

half  lay  between  Jabbok  and  Yarmuk,^  and 

was  therefore  equivalent  to  the  modern  district  of  'Ajlun.^ 

■jTl''  ")3y,  sometimes  with  the  addition  of  nniTD,  or  eastward.  D''13J?  = 
men  or  regions  on  the  other  side. 

"^  Practically  coincident  with  the  Wady  Hesban. 

^  For  these  three  divisions,  see  Deut.  iii.  lo ;  iv.  43  ;  of.  Josh.  xx.  8  ; 
xiii.  9. 

^  'Tlti*"'Dn,  Auth.  Eng.  Ver.,  plain  country,  or  plain;  Rev.  Vex.,  plain  ; 
margin,  table-land.  ^  Josh.  xiii.  9,  16. 

®  Sharon,  from  the  same  root  as  Tlti*''D,  i  Chron.  v.  16.  Neubauer,  Geog. 
du  Talmud,  47  ff. 

■^  Deut.  iii.  12:  half  Mount  Gilead.  Josh.  xii.  2:  half  Gilead  even  to  the 
river  Jabbok. 

^  Deut.  iii.  13:  the  rest  of  Gilead.     Josh.  xii.  5,  cf.  i  Kings  iv.  19. 

^  P.  536.  The  Yarmuk  was  the  northern  border,  for  (i)  the  country  of 
Gad,  which  was  practically  Gilead,  ran  up  lo  the  Sea  of  Galilee  (Deut.  iii.  16) ; 
and  (2)  Gilead  marched  with  Geshur  and  Maachah  (Josh.  xiii.  Ii).  These 
two  probably  lay  in  the  Jaulan. 


Divisions  and  Names  of  Eastern  Palestine  549 

The  whole  region  was  called  Gilcad,  the  Land  of  Gilead, 
and  Mount  Gilead,^  the  last  of  which  names  still  survives 
upon  the  long  ridge  south  of  the  Jabbok,  the  Jebel  Jela'ad.- 
On  one  occasion  Gilcad  is  used  for  Gad.^  But  with  that 
singular  elasticity  which  characterises  all  names  across 
Jordan,  Gilead  is  at  least  twice  used  of  all  Eastern  Pales- 
tine to  Dan."*  This  seems  to  be  the  sense  of  the  word  in 
the  books  of  Maccabees  ; "  Josephus  uses  it  with  both  the 
narrower  and  the  wider  application.^ 

Bashan,  or   The  Bashan/  had    its   eastern   border   on 
Salcah,  the  present  Salkhat,  the  nearest  town 

(3)  Bashan. 

of  any  miportance  to  the  Arabian  desert,^  and 

included  Edrei,^  Ashtaroth/*^  the  present  Tcll-Ashtar,  and 

^  In  the  Hexaicuch  JE  uses  all  three  names.  Gilead,  Num.  xxxii.  26 
(J) ;  Land  of  Gilead,  Num.  xxxii.  I  (JE),  Josh.  xvii.  5,  6  (JE) ;  Mount 
Gilead,  Gen.  xxxi.  21  (E),  25  (J).  D  always  uses  Gilead  (Deut.  ii.  36,  iii. 
15,  16,  xxxiv.  I  (D  or  R?)  ;  Josh.  xii.  2,  5,  xiii.  11),  except  once,  when  it 
uses  Mount  Gilead  (Deut.  iii.  12).  P  uses  both  Gilead  {^o^.  xiii.  25,  31) 
and  Land  of  Gilead  (^\\m.  xxxii.  29;  Josh.  xxii.  9,  13,  15,  32). 

-  Burckhardt,  Syria,  348. 

^  Judges  V.  17,  cf.  I  Sam.  xiii.  7. 

*  Deut.  xxxiv.  i  ;  Josh.  xxii.  9,  13,  15,  32. 

^  FaXoaS,  I  Mace.  v.  i,  17,  etc.  FaXaaotrts,  v.  20.  It  excludes  Ammon 
and  Jazer  to  the  south,  but  includes  part  of  Hauran,  cf.  xiii.  22;  Judith  i. 
8 ;  XV.  5. 

®  i.  Antt.  xix.  11.  The  hill  Gulad,  the  country  FaXaoTji^T; ;  iv.  Antt.  v.  3; 
vi.  Antt.  V.  I  ;  ix.  Antt.  viii.  i  :  FaXaaStrts,  so  also  LXX.;  xii.  Antt.  viii.  2, 
3  ;  in  3  for  '  Galilee '  read  '  Gilead  ' ;  xiii.  Antt.  xiii.  4. 

^  The  article  is  used  in  all  historical  statements  defining  the  kingdom  of 
Og,  who  is  always  king  of  the  Bashan  (Num.  xxi.  33  ;  Deut.  i.  4,  etc.  ;  even 
Psalms  cxxxv.  11,  cxxxvi.  20),  or  the  territories  of  Manasseh  (Josh.  xvii.  i, 
xxi.  6,  etc.)  except  i  Chron.  v.  23  ;  also  sometimes  in  poetry  (Deut.  xxxiii. 
20),  and  in  prophecy  (Isa.  ii.  13;  Jer.  xxii.  20;  1.  19;  Amos  iv.  i).  But 
more  often  in  prophecy  and  poetry  it  is  omitted.  Psalm  xxii.  13  (Eng.  12) ; 
Ixviii.  17,  23  (Eng.  16,  22) :  Isa.  xxxiii.  9  ;  Ezek.  xxvii.  6,  xxxix.  i8 ; 
Micah  vii.  14  ;  Nahum  i.  4  ;  Zech.  xi.  2. 

^  Deut.  iii.  10;  Josh.  xii.  4,  xiii.  11  ;  i  Chron.  v.  11. 

'  Deut.  iii.  10 ;  Josh.  ix.  10. 
'"  Deut.  i.  4  ;  Josh.  ix.  10,  xii.  4,  xiii.  12,  31. 


550   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Golan.^  That  is  to  say,  Bashan  proper  covered  the  land 
known  in  Greek  times  as  Batanea,  the  southern  end  of  the 
great  plain  of  Hauran.^  In  this  narrower  application 
the  name  does  not  appear  to  have  come  west  to  Jordan, 
for  between  it  and  that  river  lay  Geshur  and  Maachah.^ 
But  in  a  wider  sense  Bashan  extended  to  Hermon,  and 
covered  all  the  land  north  of  Gilead.^  The  long  high  edge 
of  mountain  to  the  east  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  is  the 
Bashan  which  the  prophets  so  often  couple  with  Carmel. 
Dan,  says  a  poet,  is  a  lion's  whelp  ;  he  leapeth  from 
Bashan^  This  carries  the  name  to  the  very  foot  of  Her- 
Hiihof  f^oii"  Whether  Hermon  itself  was  known  as 
Bashan.  ^^  nioiuit  or  iHountaius  of  Bashan,  or  whether 
the  latter  name  designates  the  whole  of  that  eastern  range, 
is  uncertain.  The  poet  says,  mountai7is  of  bold  heights^  are 
the  mount  of  Bashan.  This  epithet,  not  applicable  to  the 
long,  level  edge  of  the  table-land,  might  refer  either  to  the 
lofty  triple  summits  of  Hermon,'^  or  to  the  many  broken 
cones  that  are  scattered  across  Bashan,  and  so  greatly 
differ  in  their  volcanic  form  from  the  softer,  less  imposing 
heights  of  Western  Palestine.^ 

^  Deut.  iv.  43  ;  Josh.  xx.  8,  xxi.  27. 

^  I  Chron.  v.  23  seems  to  limit  Bashan  to  the  south  of  this  plain. 

^  Josh.  xii.  4,  xiii.  11,  13,  where  it  is  implied  that  Geshur  and  Maachah 
were  west  of  Bashan, — probably  occupying  the  present  Jaulan.  Cf.  Guthe, 
Z.D.P.  V.  xii.  232. 

^  Deut.  iv.  43  ;  2  Kings  x.  33.  ^  Deut.  xxxiii.  22. 

^  Psalm  Ixviii.  17.  D"'3^J3J,  protuberances,  biilgings,  humps  ;  j33,  hump- 
backed. Lev.  xxi.  20.     In  the  Targums  X32''J  is  a  hill-top,  ''p''32,    eyebrows. 

"^  So  Olshausen,  and  recently  Baethgen  ;  cf.  p.  477. 

^  So  Delitzsch.  Wetzstein  compares  jlJ^a  with  the  Syriac  gabnun  and 
the  Arabic  gabulun,  *  a  roof  with  a  gable  end.'  He  is  doubtless  wrong  when 
(followed  by  Cheyne)  he  confines  the  general  term  mount  =  range,  or  moun- 
tains of  Bashan,  to  the  Jebel  Hauran,  even  though  it  should  be  true  that  the 
Hill  of  Salmon,  quoted  in  the  previous  verse,  be  the  same  as  the  name  Ptolemy 
gives  to  that  hill,  the  Mons  Asalmanos  (v.  15).    Cf.  Guthe,  Z.D.P.  V.  xii.  231. 


Divisions  and  Names  of  Eastern  Palestine  5  5 1 

Within  Bashan  lay  'Argob,  probably  equivalent  to  our 
word  '  Glebe.'  ^  It  bordered  on  Geshur  and  Maachah,-  and 
contained  threescore  fortified  cities.  Some- 
times 'Argob  seems  equivalent  to  the  king- 
dom of  Og  in  Bashan,  and  sometimes  to  all  Bashan. 
But  the  name  which  is  always  given  it,  of  The  Measured 
Lot^  of  Argob,  implies  that  it  was  some  well-defined 
district  within  Bashan^  For  the  same  reason  many^ 
have  thought  it  to  be  the  Leja,  which  lies  so  well 
marked  off  from  the  surrounding  country,  but  for  such  an 
identification  there  is  no  further  evidence.  Nor  was  the 
Argob  identical  with  the  Havoth-Jair,  or 
Tent-villages  of  Jair^  Of  the  latter  we  have 
two  different  accounts :  one  that  they  were  camps  taken 
by  Jair,  the  son  of  Manasseh,  in  the  days  of  Moses  ;  '^  the 
other  that  they  were  thirty  cities  belonging  to  the  thirty 
sons  of  Jair,  a  Gileadite,  one  of  the  minor  Judges.^  The 
first  of  these  accounts  has  been  mixed  with  the  account  of 
the  conquest  of  Argob  in  a  verse  in  Deuteronomy,  which 
bears  proof  of  having  been  deliberately  altered  to  effect 
this.^     Argob  and  Havoth-Jair  were  not  the  same  ;  Argob 

^  llilN  or  niJIXn,  probably  from  1T\,  a  clod.  .    "  Deut.  iii.  14, 

*  It  is  always  given  as  in  Bashan.     Deut.  iii.  4,  13  f.;  i  Kings  iv.  13. 
°  So  Porter,  Conder,  Henderson,  P.E.F.  map. 

^  T'X''  nin.     nin  is  probably  the   same  as  the  Ar.ibic  .il»j>-,  hiwa',  pi. 

X>»>-1)  'Ahwiyat,  the  Bedawee  goat  hair-tent,  applied  also  to  a  collection 
of  houses.     Freytag,  sub  voce.     Hence  probably  the  Hivites,  ^^Pl,  got  their 

name. 

^  Num.  xx.xii.  41.     P'rom  an  uncertain  source,  perhaps  E. 

8  Judges  X.  3,  5. 

^  Deut.  iii.  14.  I  do  not  think  \vc  can  say  with  Dillmann  and  others  that 
this  verse  is  a  sheer  insertion  (along  with  the  two  following)  ;  for  a  sheer 
insertion  would  not  bear  marks  of  having  been  altered  from  something  else, 


552    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

was  a  region  full  of  walled  and  gated  cities  ;  the  Havoth- 
Jair  were  a  collection  of  Bedouin  camps.  But  the  absolute 
proof  of  their  difference  is  that  a  passage  in  the  First 
Book  of  Kings  expressly  separates  them,  placing  the  camps 
of  Jair  in  Gilead,  and  Argob  and  its  cities  in  Bashan.^ 

The  only  other  Old  Testament  name  in  Eastern  Pales- 
tine which  it  is  necessary  to  mention  is  Hauran  or 
Hauran—  Havran  of  Ezekiel,  which  he  gives,  along  with 
'Hollow.'  Damascus  and  Gilead,  as  comprising  Eastern 
Palestine.^  There  is  little  doubt  that  this  is  the  same 
name  as  we  have  in  Auranitis  and  the  modern  Hauran, 
which  also,  like  the  Hebrew,  is  a  proper  name,  and  ought 
not  to  have  the  definite  article  attached  to  it.  It  is  at 
least  worth  noting  that  a  district  lying  so  hollow  between 
mountains,  and  to  part  of  which  the  Arabs  at  the  present 
day  give  the  name  of  their  hollow  hearth,  en-Nukra,  should 

as  this  verse  does.  It  tells  us  that  Jair  took  the  Hebel  of  Argob,  singular, 
and  called  them  plural.  This  must  mean  that  a  plural  noun  originally  stood 
in  place  of  the  Hebel  or  lot  of  Argob  {them,  of  course,  cannot  possibly  be 
explained  by  the  coasts  of  the  intervening  clause).  This  can  only  have  been 
the  tent-villages  of  Gilead,  or  some  such  expression.  How  clumsily  the 
change  has  been  made  is  seen  from  the  fact    that   Bashan,  {D'HriTlX,  has 

T      T    -  V 

not  been  inserted  in  its  proper  place,  which  is  earlier  in  the  sentence,  but 
now  stands  where  it  is  quite  ungrammatical.  But  even  if  either  the  above 
explanation  or  any  other  that  has  been  given  of  the  origin  of  this  verse  be 
not  correct,  the  text  is  so  evidently  confused  that  we  could  not  possibly 
prefer  it  to  the  clear  evidence  of  verse  4  in  the  same  chapter,  which  says 
the  towns  of  Argob  were  not  Havoth,  tent-villages,  but  walled  and  gated 
cities ;  or  to  i  Kings  iv.  13,  which  separates  Argob  from  Havoth-Jair, 
reckoning  the  former  to  Bashan,  the  latter  to  Gilead.  But  if  for  this 
reason  we  must  put  aside  Deut.  iii.  14,  we  must  also  strike  out  at  least 
the  last  clause  of  Josh.  xiii.  30,  which  calls  the  tent-villages  of  Jair  cities, 
and,  in  contradiction  to  2  Kings  iv.  13,  puts  them  in  Bashan.  Josh,  xiii. 
30  is  from  P, 

^  I  Kings  iv,  13.  Here,  however,  it  is  only  right  to  say  that  some 
regard  the  words,  the  villages  of  Jair  the  son  of  Manasseh  in  Gilead,  as  an 
insertion.  Still  we  know  from  other  passages  that  the  Havoth-Jair  were  in 
Gilead,  but  Argob  is  always  placed  in  Bashan. 

2  Ezek.  xlvii.  16,  18,  pin- 


Divisions  and  Names  of  Eastern  Palestine  553 

have  a  title  capable  of  being  split  up  into  Havr  or  Hawr, 
meaning  a  hole,  and  -an,  a  common  termination  of  place- 
names. 


These,  then,  are  the  greater  divisions  of  Eastern  Pales- 
tine, with  their  names  respectively  to-day,  at  the  Crusades, 
in  New  Testament  times,  and  in  Old  Testament  times.  We 
may  sum  them  up  in  the  following  comparative  table  : — 


Name  To-day. 

At  the  Crusades. 

In  New  Test.  Times. 

In  Old  Test.  Times. 

WHOLE  TE 

RRITORY. 

... 

Oultre-Jourdain. 

Coele-Syria. 

/Over-Jordan. 
\Abarim. 

{a)  DAM 

ASCUS. 

El-Ghuta  (geogr. ) 

Liwa  of  Damascus 

(administrative). 

... 

[-Damascus. 
J 

Aram  of  Damascus. 

{b)  NORTH  OF 

THE  J  ARM  UK. 

Hauran  (Mulas- 
seraflik  of). 

(i)  Jaulan. 

(2)  Hauran 

Suwete 
or 

Suhetc. 

Tetrarchy  of 
Philip  (-f  De- 
capolis,  etc.). 

Gaulanitis. 

Auranitis. 

All  Bashan. 
(-f-  Half-Gilead). 
f  Geshur  (?). 
\  Ma'achah  (?). 
[ThetownGolan. 
Hauran  (Ezekiel). 

proper. 

(3)  ^eja, 

(4)  A  r  d  -  c  1  - 
Betheniyeh. 

(5)  En-Nukra. 
(b)  Jebel  Haur- 

Trachon(itis). 
1  Batanea  (?). 

Mount  A<raX;U.aj'os. 

(?) 

Bashan,  in  narrower 

sense 

Argob  (?) 

Mount  Bashan  (?) 

an  or  Druz. 

{c) 

BETWEEN  JAR 

MUK  AND  JAB 

BOK. 

(7)  'Ajlun. 

... 

Region  of  Deca- 
polis,  with  part 
of  Peraea. 

Half-Gilead. 

{d) 

BETWEEN  JAB 

BOK  AND  ARN  ON. 

The  Belka'. 

Peraea. 

j  Half-Gilead. 
\  The  Mishor. 

(e)  SOUTH 

OF  ARNON. 

Practical  continua- 
tion of  the  Belka'. 

Scigneurie  of 
Krak  and  Mont- 
real. 

Nabatean  terri- 
tory. 

Moab. 

554   ^-^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


FURTHER  NOTE  ON  THE  ITUR^ANS  AND  TRACHONITIS 
—IN  REPLY  TO  PROFESSOR  RAMSAY. 

{To  cojitmue  n.  i  on  p.  547). 

Professor  Ramsay  has  done  me  the  honour  to  reply  to  my  Expositor  article 
(March  1894)  in  a  kind  article  (April  1894,  pp.  288  n.  i,  298-302).  In  reply 
I  have  space  only  for  the  following : — 

1.  In  answer  to  his  note  on  p.  288, — I  am  his  ally  in  so  far  as  I  have  pro- 
duced some  evidence  for  the  possibility  of  his  theory  of  the  overlapping  of 
Trachonitis  and  the  Iturasan  name  (see  above,  p.  546). 

2.  I  repeat  that  (leaving  the  disputed  Luke  iii.  i  aside)  there  is  no  evidence 
of  \^e.fact  of  such  an  overlapping  in  the  first  century,  except  Eusebius.  In 
his  reply  Professor  Ramsay  has  not  attempted  to  supply  such  evidence. 

3.  My  objection  to  Eusebius  is  not  so  much  to  his  errors  as  a  geographer  for 
his  own  day  (Ramsay,  301)  as  that  his  date  in  the  fourth  century  makes  his 
testimony  about  the  first  century  inferior  to  that  of  a  first  century  writer  like 
Strabo,  who  carefully  distinguishes  the  Trachons  from  the  '  parts  of  the 
Ituraeans.' 

4.  I  cannot  but  think  that  Professor  Ramsay  has  been  led  to  extend  the 
Iturgeans  as  far  east  as  over  the  Trachon  by  his  theory  (which,  on  p.  300,  he 
wrongly  imputes  to  me)  that  '  the  Iturosi  were  the  one  warlike  tribe  of  the 
whole  region.'  Most  certainly  they  were  not.  To  the  east  were  other  Arabs 
distinct  from  them,  but  partly  mixed  with  them  (Strabo  xvi.  ii.  18,  20).  And 
there  were  the  Nabateans  (if  these  be  distinct,  which  is  doubtful,  from  Strabo's 
Arabs)  in  possession,  when  the  Romans  were  not,  of  Damascus,  and  in 
alliance  with  the  Arabs  of  the  Trachon  (see  below,  p.  617). 

5.  When  Professor  Ramsay  says  that  'the  true  home  of  such  a  race  {i.e.  as 
the  Iturseans)  is,  he  ventures  to  think,  not  the  long-settled  and  well-governed 
land  between  Lebanon  and  Anti-Lebanon,'  he  ignores  {a)  how  often  in  Syria 
such  a  land  has  been  seized  and  governed  by  such  a  tribe  ;  and  [b)  what 
abundant  evidence  we  have  that  Iturseans  did  settle  on  Anti-Lebanon  and  in 
the  Beka',  with  Chalcis  as  their  capital.  On  this  Schiirer  seems  to  me  to  be 
absolutely  correct  (see  above,  p.  545,  especially  n.  i). 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
MOAB  AND  THE  COMING  OF  ISRAEL 


For  this  ChaJ>ter  consult  Maps  I.  and  IJl. 


MOAB  AND  THE  COMING  OF  ISRAEL 

THE  passage  of  the  Arnon  brings  Israel  clearly  into 
light  upon  Eastern  Palestine.     We  have  the  names 
of  the  stations  of  their  journey  before  this,  but 

Isrn.cl's 

the  sites  of  these  are  not  now  discernible,^  and  Pass,ige  of 
even  the  Brook  Zered,  which  is  given  as  the 
limit  of  the  wilderness,  did  not  mark  the  beginning  of  the 
Promised  Land.^  The  Arnon  is  afterwards  drawn  as  the 
southern  frontier  of  Israel  on  this  side  of  Jordan.  Aroer 
on  its  banks  was  the  Beersheba  of  the  East,^  and  accord- 
ingly we  find  Israel,  as  soon  as  they  cross  it,  entering  upon 
their  warfare  for  their  heritage. 

That  Israel's  fighting  began  after  the  passage  of  the 
Arnon,  was  due  to  a  recent  change  in  the  political  dis- 
position  of   Eastern    Palestine.      Properly  all     sihon's 
the  country  from  Jabbok  to  Arnon  belonged,     Conquests. 
northwards  to  Ammon,  southwards  to  Moab.    But  shortly 
before  Israel's  arrival,  Sihon,  an  Amorite  king  from  Western 

^  Num.  xxi.  10  f.  Oboth,  somewhere  on  the  flinty  plateau  to  the  east  of 
Edom,  the  Ard  Suvvwan  or  Flint  Ground,  Arabia  Petrcea  ;  see  Doughty, 
Arabia  Deserta,  i.  28,  29.  Ije-Abarim  (so  called  to  distinguish  it  from  the  lim 
of  Judah,  Jo.  XV.  29),  in  the  wilderness  in  front  of  Moab  towards  the  sttnrising. 

-  The  Zered  cannot  be  the  great  wady  rising  east  from  the  south  end  of  the 
Dead  Sea  to  the  Hajj  Station,  Kula't  el  Jarahy,  as  marked  on  the  P.E.F. 
red.  map,  1S90 ;  but  must  have  lain  nearer  Arnon,  either  in  the  W.  'Ain 
Feranjy,  or  the  Sell  S'aideh,  a  branch  of  the  Arnon  (so  Dillmann).  But  all 
sites  in  this  region  are  problematical. 

*  Deut.  ii.  36,  iii.  8,  16  ;  Josh.  xiii.  16. 

557 


55S   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Palestine,  had  crossed  the  Jordan,  and  driving  Moab 
southwards  over  Arnon,  and  Ammon  eastwards  to  the 
sources  of  the  Jabbok,  had  founded  a  kingdom  for  himself 
between  these  two  rivers.  Israel  had  come  up  the  eastern 
border  of  Moab,  but,  in  order  to  reach  Jordan,  was  forced 
to  strike  westward  across  Sihon's  territory.  Moses  sent 
and  asked  for  rights  of  passage.  Sihon  refused,  and 
Israel  prepared  to  fight  him.  They  were  now  upon  some 
branch  of  the  Arnon,  but  high  up  it.  Their  route  had 
perhaps  followed  the  present  Hajj  road.^ 

The  Arnon  is  the  present  Wady  Mojib,  an  enormous 

trench  across  the  plateau  of  Moab.     It  is  about  1700  feet 

The  Arnon      deep,  and  two  miles  broad  from  edge  to  edge 

as  a  frontier,    ^f  ^|^g  ^|jff-g  ^^\-^y^\^  bouud  it,  but  the  floor  of  the 

valley  over  which  the  stream  winds  is  only  forty  yards 
wide.2  About  thirteen  miles  from  the  Dead  Sea  the 
trench  divides  into  two  branches,  one  running  north-east, 
the  other  south-south-east,  and  each  of  them  again  divid- 
ing into  two.  The  whole  plateau  up  to  the  desert  is  thus 
not  only  cut  across,  but  up  and  down,  by  deep  ravines, 
and  a  very  difficult  frontier  is  formed.  You  see  at  once 
why  the  political  boundary  of  Eastern  Palestine  has 
generally  lain  here,^  and  not  farther  south.  The  southern 
branch,  the  present  Seil  Sa'ideh,  called  also  Safiah,  is  the 
principal  one,^  but  all  the  branches  probably  carried  the 
name  Arnon  from  the  main  valley  right  up  to  the  desert. 
It  is  not  tlie  valley  but  the  valleys  of  Arnon,  which  are 

1  Num.  xxi.  21,  where  the  embassy  to  Sihon  for  permission  to  journey 
through  his  land  is  related  after  the  list  of  the  stations  on  the  journey ;  the 
Deuteronomist  (ii.  26)  states  that  the  embassy  was  sent  from  the  wilderness 
of  Kedemoth.  -  Burckhardt,  Syria,  372. 

^  Except  in  the  time  of  the  Crusades,  and  at  the  present  day. 

'*  Burckhardt,  p.  373.     It  carries  the  name  Mojib  up  to  the  desert. 


Moab  and  the  Coining  of  Israel  559 

named  in  the  ancient  fragment  of  song  celebrating  Israel's 

passage  : — 

HVaheb  in  Sufah  [we  passed]  and  ihe  valleys  of  Arnon, 
And  the  cliff  of  the  valleys,  which  stretches  to  Ar's  seat, 
And  leatis  on  the  border  of  Moab. ^  ^ 

The  first  words  are  obscure.  Sufah  may  survive  in 
Safiah.2  The  cliffs  or  declivities  of  all  these  Moab  valleys 
are  impressive,  and  every  traveller  speaks  of  them.^  'Ar  is 
not  Rabbath  Moab/  which  lies  far  south  of  the  Arnon,  but 
'Ar,  or  'Ir,  of  Moab,  now  indiscoverable,  which  stood  on 
Moab's  border.^  On  the  north  bank,  just  before  the  valley 
divides,  stand  the  ruins  of  'Ar'ar,  the  Aroer  on  the  lip  of 
the  valley  of  Arnon,  which  we  have  already  called  the 
Beersheba  of  Eastern  Palestine.'' 

From  the  Upper  Arnon,  then, — the  Deuteronomist  calls 
the  place  the  Wilderness  of  Kedemoth^ — Israel  sent  to 
Sihon  for  permission  to  cross  his  territory,  and  -pj^g  ^^^^ 
Sihon  refusing  came  out  to  offer  them  battle  ^"'^^  ^''^°"' 
at  Jahaz,  a  strong  place  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kede- 
moth,^  that  is,  in  the  south-east  corner  of  Sihon's  territory. 
The  result  was  the  total  defeat  of  Sihon,  and  the  occu- 

^  Num.  xxi.  14,  15.     For  Waheb  (in  the  accusative  case)  LXX.  read  2wo^, 

^  Cf.  especially  Burckhardt,  pp.  400,  401.  Cliff  is  Ht^'X,  a  singular  not  else 
where  found,  but  in  the  plural  DHCX,  frequently  used  for  the  declivities  of  hills. 

*  As  in  P.E.F.  red.  map,  1890,  and  Murray's  Guide. 

^  So  also  Dillmann.     It  may  be  the  Mehatit  el  Haj. 

*'  P.  557.  ^  Deut.  ii.  26,  27. 

'^  Jahaz,  JTr*,  Num.  xxi.  23  ;  Deut.  ii.  32  ;  Isa.  xv.  4  ;  Jer.  xlviii.  34  ;  but 
Jahzah,  nSIT',  Josh.  xiii.  18 ;  xxi.  36  ;  Judges  xi.  20  ;  Jer.  xlviii.  21  ;  and  i 
Chron.  vi.  63 — is  mentioned  twice  with  Kedemoth,  Josh.  xiii.  18  ;  xxi.  36  f., 
which  since  the  wilderness  is  called  after  it  must  have  lain  east  ;  twice  seems  to 
be  mentioned  as  a  limit  of  Moab,  distant  from  Heshbon,  Isa.  xv.  4;  Jer.  xlviii. 
34;  and  once  is  placed  on  the  plateau  of  Moab,  lb.  21.  On  the  Moabite 
Stone,  lines  19,  20,  the  name  is  spelt  like  the  shorter  Ilebrew  form,  and  the 
place  is  given  as  a  fortre'-s  and  seemingly  near  Daibon. 


560   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

pation  of  his  country  by  the  Israelites.  WJierefoi^e  they 
that  smg  taunt-songs  say, — the  following  '  mashal '  opens 
with  the  taunt  of  the  victorious  Israel  to  the  Amorites  to 
return  and  rebuild  their  city  (ver.  27),  then  (vv.  28,  29) 
describes  how  the  Amorites  had  come  to  be  there,  namely, 
by  previously  taking  the  country  from  Moab,  and  returns 
(ver.  30)  to  the  keynote  of  Israel's  own  victory — 

•  27  Come  ye  to  HesJibon! 

Let  the  city  of  Sihon  be  built  and  set  up  again  ! 

28  For  fire  had^  gone  forth  from  Heshbon, 
Flame  from  the  foi'tress  of  Siho7J, 
Had  devoured  ^Ar  of  Moab, 

And  coiiswned"  the  high  places  of  A  r not: . 

29  Woe  to  thee,  Moab  / 

Thou  art  undone,  people  of  Chemosh  / 
He  hath  given  up  his  sons  to  be  runaways, 
His  daughters  to  captivity. 
To  the  king  of  the  Amorites,  Sihon  / 

30  But  we  shot  at  them,  Heshbon  was  undone — unto  Daibon, 
And  we  laid  waste  unto  Nobah  (?)  which  lies  07i  the  dese?'t.'  '•' 

The  war  against  Sihon  has  been  declared  by  some 
critics  to  be  unhistorical,  and  they  refer  the  song  to  a  con- 

jg  jj  quest  of  Moab  by  Israel  in  the  ninth  century. 

historical?  Thgjj.  reasons  are  that  the  war  is  narrated  in 
only  one  of  the  documents  of  the  Pentateuch,  that  the 

^  The  verb,  from  its  position  in  the  clause,  must  be  rendered  by  the 
pluperfect. 

"  So  LXX.  KariiTLev  as  if  ri?y3-  Hebrew  text  reads  vy3  :  Baals  or  Lords 
of  the  high  places  of  Arnon. 

^  The  text  is  here  very  uncertain.  The  above  rendering  is  that  of  Dill- 
mann,  based  on  the  Peschito.  Daibon  is  the  proper  spelling,  as  we  see  from 
p"*!  of  the  Moabite  Stone.  Nophah  is  unknown  (there  is  a  Naifeh  south-east 
of  Ma 'in),  but  there  was  a  Nobah  to  the  north-east  of  Heshbon  near  Jogbehah 
(Judges  viii.  ii).  This,  of  course,  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  words, 
XIT'D  1J?  "lt^>X,  for  Medeba  lies  south  of  Hesbon.  But  the  Peschito  reads 
"imO  by  "Iti'X,  which  is  on  the  desert.  LXX.  read  the  last  line  /cat  ai 
7i;('ar/ces  ert  Trpoae^eKavcrav  trvp  eirl  MwdjS. 


Moab  and  the  Coming  of  Israel  561 

song  traces  an  invasion  from  north  to  south,  not  from  south 
to  north,  and  that  if  the  words  king  of  tJie  Aiiiorites, 
Sihon}  be  omitted,  the  whole  reads  clearly  as  the  account 
of  an  invasion  by  Israel  of  Moab,  beginning  at  Heshbon 
and  extending  to  the  Arnon.  But  the  document  which 
tells  the  story  is  the  oldest  of  all  the  documents  ;  its  date, 
at  the  latest  in  the  eighth  century,  forbids  that  its  authors 
could  have  confused  a  war  in  the  ninth  century  with  one 
in  the  fourteenth  ;  and  it  is  not  contradicted  by  anything 
in  the  other  documents.  Moreover,  such  an  invasion  of 
Eastern  Palestine  by  the  Amorites  of  the  west  was 
possible  ;  while  it  is  impossible  to  understand,  if  the  facts 
were  not  as  stated,  any  motive  for  the  invention  of  the  tale.- 
Sihon  being  defeated,  and  Heshbon  overthrown,  the 
country  was  now  clear  for  the  advance  of  the  great 
camp  of  Israel  from  the  Arnon.  Their  goal 
was  the  Jordan,  at  the  north  end  of  the  Dead  sage  of  *  the 
Sea,  and  their  nearest  way  lay  first  over  the 
treeless  Plateau,  which  stretches  northward  from  Arnon, 
and  then  down  one  of  the  numerous  glens  which  break 
from  the  west  of  Heshbon  into  the  'Arabah.  The  Plateau 
is  without  springs,  and  Israel's  stations  upon  it  would 
be  determined  by  the  three  water-courses  which  cut  it 
between  the  Arnon  and  Pleshbon.  One  itinerary  gives 
us  four  stations  :  Be'er,  where  Israel  had  to  dig  for  water, 
and  sang  the  Song  of  the  Well,  some  undiscovered  spot 
near  the  Upper  Arnon  ;^   Mattanah;*   Nahaliel,  or   the 

^  Num.  xxi.  29.  ^  See  Appendix  on  '  The  Wars  witli  Sihon  and  Og. ' 

^  Num.  xxi.  16-18.     In  iSb  read  (with  the  LXX.)/;ww  Be'cr  instead  of 

from  (he  wilderness.     Be'er  cannot  be  Daibon,  Conder,  P.E.F.Q.  1882,  p. 

86 ;  for  Israel  would  not  need  to  dig  water  there,  and  seems  to  have  passed 

to  the  eastward. 

■*  The   only   names  to-day  even  remotely  echoing   this  name  arc   Umm 

Denich  and  Butmah,  the  name  of  the  upper  course  of  the  Wady  Waleh. 

2  N 


562    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Valley  of  God,  which  is  not  an  unfit  name  for  the  Wady 
Zerka  Ma'in  with  its  healing  springs  ;  ^  Bamoth,"  or  High 
Places,  which  may  be  represented  by  any  of  the  ancient 
cromlechs  and  altars  about  the  Wady  Jideid.^ 

At  this  point  Israel  were  about  to  exchange  the  desert 
view,  which  had  been  their  horizon  during  forty  years,  for 
the  first  full  sight  of  the  Promised  Land.  In  the  itinerary 
we  have  been  following  the  next  station  is  given  as  tJie 
glen  that  is  in  tJie  field  of  Moab,  by  the  headland  of  Pisgah, 
which  looketh  out  over  feshimon. 

During  their  journey  over  the  Table-land,  Israel  had 
no  outlook  westward  across  the  Dead  Sea.  For  westward 
The  edge  of  ^^  Platcau  riscs  a  little  and  shuts  out  all  view, 
'the  Plateau,  j^^^  ^^  ^y^^  other  side  of  the  rise  it  breaks  up 
into  promontories  slightly  lower  than  itself,  which  run 
out  over  the  'Arabah  and  Dead  Sea  Valley,  and  afford 
a  view  of  all  Western  Palestine.  Seen  from  below,  or 
from  across  Jordan,  these  headlands,  rising  three  or  four 
thousand  feet  by  slope  and  precipice  from  the  valley, 
stand  out  like  separate  mountains.  But  eastward  they 
do  not  rise  from  the  Moab  Plateau — they  are  simply 
projections  or  capes  of  the  latter,  and  you  ride  from  it 
on  to  them  without  experiencing  any  difference  of  level, 
except,  it  may  be,  a  decline  of  a  few  feet.  Israel,  passing 
Neboand  Bamoth,  had  arrived  at  the  inland  end  of 
Pisgah.  Q^g  q|-  ^i^ggg  headlands — almost  certainly  that 
which  breaks  from  the  Plateau  half  way  between  Heshbon 
and  Medeba,  and  runs  out,  under  the  name  of  Neba,  nearly 

^  Conder,  ibid. 

'  Not  Bamoth  in  the  valley,  as  the  P.E.F.  Red.  Map,  1890,  calls  it  (also 
Conder,  P.E.F.Q.,  1882,  p.  86),  following  the  mistaken  rendering  of  the 
English  version  of  Num.  xxi.  20.     Read/r(?w  Bamoth  to  the  glen  or  ravine. 

'^  Conder,  P.E.F.Q.,  1886,  pp.  85  ff.  ;  Heth  and  Moab,  145  ff. 


Moab  and  the  Couiiiig  of  Is7'acl  563 

opposite  the  north  end  of  the  Dead  Sea.  The  ridge  is 
about  two  miles  long,  and  its  level  top  perhaps  half  a 
mile  broad.  It  is  of  flinty  limestone,  mostly  barren,  yet 
where  it  breaks  from  the  Plateau,  fertile,  and,  on  the  Jul\- 
day  we  crossed,  this  end  of  it  was  covered  with  yellow 
corn  and  reapers.  Before  you  descend  from  the  rising 
ground,  which  alone  divides  it  from  the  Plateau,  you 
instinctively  seek  the  nearest  high  mound  for  a  last  view 
backwards.  There  is  the  great  plain  of  Moab,  south- 
ward broken  only  by  the  eminence  of  Medeba  and  the 
hollow  of  Arnon,  but  in  front  of  you  it  rolls  away  un- 
broken, unvaried,  save  by  the  shadows  of  a  few  clouds  on 
the  featureless  hillocks,  into  the  infinite  East.  You  turn 
westward,  descending  through  the  corn-fields,  and  traverse 
the  long  flinty  ridge  to  the  limestone  knoll  upon  it,  which 
bears  the  name  of  Ras,  or  Head,  of  Neba.  You  have  lost 
the  eastern  view,  but  all  Western  Palestine  is  in  sight ; 
only  the  hither  side  of  the  Jordan  Valley  is  still  invisible, 
and  north  and  south  the  view  is  hampered  by  the  near 
hills.  Follow  the  ridge  to  its  second  summit,  the  Ras 
Siaghah,  and  you  find  yourself  on  a  headland,  which, 
though  lower  than  Ras  Neba,  stands  free  of  the  rest  of 
the  range.  The  whole  of  the  Jordan  Valley  is  now  open 
to  you,  from  Engedi,  beyond  which  the  mists  become 
impenetrable,  to  where,  on  the  north,  the  hills  of  Gilead 
seem  to  meet  those  of  Ephraim.  The  Jordan  flows 
below:  Jericho  is  visible  beyond.  Over  Gilead,  it  is 
said,  Hermon  can  be  seen  in  clear  weather,  but  the  heat 
hid  it  from  us.  The  view  is  almost  that  described  as  the 
last  on  which  the  eyes  of  Moses  rested,  the  higher  hills  of 
Western  Palestine  shutting  out  all  possibility  of  a  sight 
of  the  sea.     It  is  certainly  the  position  described  in  the 


564    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

itinerary  :  tJie  head  of  the  Pisgah,  ivJiich  looketJi  down  or 
over  upon  the  face  of  Jeshimon,  whether  this  latter  be  the 
wilderness  of  Judrca  immediately  across  the  Dead  Sea, 
or  the  long  stretch  of  waste-land  on  the  east  of  Jordan, 
just  below  our  point  of  view.-"- 

It  was  probably  the  well-watered  glen  on  the  north  of 
the  Neba-Siaghah  ridge,  the  present  Wady  'Ayun  Musa, 
'The Wells  which  Israel  descended  and  camped  in.  It 
of  Moses.  would  depend  on  the  season  of  the  year 
whether  the  host  stayed  for  some  time  about  its  plentiful 
waters,  now  called  the  '  Wells  of  Moses,'  or  at  once 
descended  to  the  warm  plains  of  Shittim  beside  the 
Jordan.  One  thing  is  certain  ;  this  journey,  though  it  is 
described  in  the  Book  of  Numbers  before  the  war  with 
Sihon,  must  have  come  after  the  latter.  No  host,  so 
large  and  cumbered  as   this,  could   have  ventured  down 

^  Looketh  down  or  over  ^ipon—T\'Zi^p'},  a  verb  used  of  God  looking  down 

from  heaven,  Ps.  cii.  20  (19) ;  and  of  men  especially,  looking  out  of,  and  down 
from,  a  window,  2  Sam.  xxiv.  20  ;  Gen.  xxvi.  8  ;  Song  vi.  10.  The  chief 
idea  seems  to  be  not  looking  forth,  but  looking  down,  and,  if  this  be  so,  then 
the  Jeshimon  of  our  present  passage  will  not  be  the  wilderness  of  Judsea,  but 
the  long  tract  of  barren  land  east  of  Jordan,  north  of  the  Dead  Sea,  in  which 
^l1Dt^'"'  n''^  lay,  josh.  xii.  3  ;  xiii.  20  ;  Ezek.  xxv.  9.  Cf.  Dillmann  ad  locum. 
Pisgah  is  always  used  with  the  article,  either  in  the  connection  K*i<"l 
njDDn,  summit  of  the  Pisgah  (Num.  xxi.  20  ;  xxiii.  14  (JE)  ;  Deut.  iii.  27  ; 
xxxiv.  i),  or  as  HJOSn  riHCX  or  mt^*N,  slopes  of  the  Pisgah  (Deut.  iii. 
17  ;  iv.  49  ;  Josh.  xii.  3,  a  Deuteronomic  passage  ;  and  Josh.  xiii.  20,  pro- 
bably from  the  Priestly  Writing).  The  E^*X"1  is  described  as  looking  down  on 
Jeshimon,  over  against  Jericho,  and  cominanding  a  view  of  Shittim.  With 
regard  to  the  etymology  of  the  word  it  is  plain  that  the  name  Siaghah,  now 
attached  to  the  foreland,  has  no  connection  with  Pisgah,  the  letters  of  which, 
or  their  equivalents,  are  found  in  the  name  Ras  Feshkah,  a  headland  exactly 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Dead  Sea.  The  name  Mount  Nebo,  133  "IH,  is 
found  only  in  two  passages,  both  of  them  probably  Deuteronomic  :  Dt.  xxxii. 
49,  where  it  is  given  as  one  of  the  Abarim  range,  over  against  Jericho,  and 
Dt.  xxxiv.  I,  where  it  is  said  to  be  the  same  as  Pisgah,  LXX.  "^a^oiv.  The 
town  of  Nebo  is  given  in  Num.  xxxii.  3,  38  ;  xxxiii.  47  Isa.  xv.  2 ;  Jer. 
xlviii.  I,  22  ;   i  Chron.  v.  8,  generally  next  to  Baal-Meon. 


Moab  Mid  the  Coming  of  Israel  565 

any  of  the  glens  from  the  Plateau  to  the  Jordan  before 
their  own  warriors  had  occupied  Heshbon,  for  Heshbon, 
standing  above  them,  commands  these  glens. 

To  Nebo,  again,  the  sacred  story  brings  Moses  to  close 
his  life — again  to  that  long  platform  where  the  host, 
which  he  had  guided  through  the  desert  for  -pi,^,  hm\^{ 
forty  years,  first  lost  their  desert  horizon,  and  *^^  Moses, 
saw  the  Promised  Land  open  before  them.  And  some- 
where below  the  platform  the  Lord  buried  Moses — in  a 
valley  iti  the  land  of  Moab,  over  against  Beth  Peor,  but  no 
vian  knoiveth  of  his  sepidcJire  to  this  day.  Between  the 
streams  that  in  these  valley  bottoms  spring  full-born 
from  the  rocks,  and  the  merry  corn-fields  on  the  Plateau 
of  Moab  above,  there  are  some  thousand  feet  of  slopes  and 
gullies,  where  no  foot  comes,  the  rock  is  crumbling,  and 
utter  silence  reigns,  save  for  the  west  wind  moaning  through 
the  thistles.  Here  Moses  was  laid.  Who  would  wish  to 
Icnow  the  exact  spot  ?     The  whole  region  is  a  sepulchre. 

Nebo  and  the  neighbouring  hills  were  also  the  stations 
and  altars  of  Balaam.  Balak  brought  him  from  the 
Arnon,  and  first  they  took  up  their  position  The  stations 
at  Bamoth-Baal,  which  must  have  lain  back  of  Balaam, 
from  the  edge  of  the  hills,  for  Balaam  could  see  from  it 
only  the  farther  edge  of  Israel's  camp  in  the  plain  below.^ 
The  seer's  second  station  was  in  the  field  of  Zophim,  or 
tJie  Gazers,  which  is  given  as  on  tJie  head  of  Pisgah^  where 
seven  altars  were  built.  The  third  station  was  the  head 
of  Peor  that  looketh  down  on  feshinion — the  same  index 
as  is  given  for  Nebo   itself,  yet   probably  a   point  still 

^  Num.  .xxii.  41.  Bamoth-Baal  was  perhaps  identical  with  Bamoth  the 
station  of  Israel,  xxi.  19.  On  the  whole  subject  of  Balaam's  altars  see 
Conder,  P.E.F.Q.  18S2  ;  and  He.th  and  Moab. 

-  Num.  xxiii.  14. 


566   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  La7id 

nearer  to  the  plain  of  Shittim.^  The  places  at  which 
Balaam  took  his  stand  and  looked  for  omens  were  all 
probably  sanctuaries.  The  range  is  covered  with  the 
names  of  deity — Baal,  Nebo,  Peor.  Nor  could  there  be 
more  suitable  platforms  for  altars,  nor  more  open  posts 
for  observing  the  stars  or  the  passage  of  clouds,  or  the 
flight  of  birds  across  the  great  hollow  of  the  'Arabah.- 
The  field  of  Gazers  was  rightly  named.  To-day  the  hills 
have  many  ancient  altars  and  circles  of  stones  upon  them."' 

Besides  the  distant  campaign  against  Og,  king  of 
The  war  Bashan,'*  Israel  waged  war — impossible  to 
with  Midian.  avoid  in  those  desert  -  bordering  regions — 
with  the  Midianites.^     No  geographical  data  are  given. 

The  rest  of  the  geography  of  Moab  carries  us  into  the 
period  of  the  kings  and  prophets. 

The  territory  of  Sihon  between  the  Arnon  and  the  Jab- 
bok,  and  as  far  east  as  Jazer,  the  border  of  the  children  of 

Reuben  and  Ammon,  was  divided  between  the  two  tribes 
Gad.  Qf  Reuben  and  Gad.     These  high,  fresh  moors, 

the  dust  of  whose  paths  still  bear  no  foot-marks  save 
those  of  sheep  and  cattle,  had  attracted  the  two  tribes, 
which,  not  crossing  the  Jordan,  failed,  like  the  others,  to 
rise  from  the  pastoral  to  the  agricultural  stage  of  life. 
They  asked  Moses  for  the  land,  and  he  divided  it  be- 
tween  them.     The  division  is  hard   to   define :    we  have 

"liyD,  a  mountain  of  this  name  is  not  elsewhere  found.  "liySfl''^,  Josh, 
xiii.  20,  is  given  with  Ashdoth  Pisgah  and  Beth-Jeshimoth,  which  means 
probably  that  it  lay  well  down  towards  the  plain.  Onomasticon  gives  opo^ 
<i>oyujp  by  the  ascent  from  Livias  (Tell  Rame)  and  Bed^oyup,  six  Roman  miles 
east  from  Livias. 

"  Cf.  Num.  xxiii.  23,  where  enchantment  and  divination  should  be  omens, 
as  of  birds  and  clouds  (cf.  xxiv.  i,  he  went  not,  as  at  other  times,  to  seek  for 
omens'),  and  soothsaying  by  watching  arrows  or  looking  into  entrails. 

^  Conder,  op.  cit.  *  See  pp.  575  ff.  ^  Num.  xxxi. 


Moab  and  the  Coining  of  Israel  567 

two  accounts.  In  one^  the  cities  of  the  Reubenites  cluster 
about  Heshbon,  while  Gad's  cities  arc  both  south  on  the 
Arnon  and  north  of  all  Reuben's.  In  the  other,-  which 
belongs  to  a  different  document,  Reuben  has  all  to  the 
south  of  Heshbon,  Gad  all  to  the  north,  the  Wady 
Hesban  probably  being  the  boundary.  Neither  of  these 
accounts  is  early,  and  the  former  probably  represents  the 
distribution  of  the  two  tribes  at  a  period  when  Reuben 
was  dwindling.^  All  we  know  is  that  both  tribes  must 
have  had  constant  warfare  with  Moab,  who  would  not 
be  kept  south  of  the  Arnon,  and  that,  in  course  of  that 
warfare,  Reuben  disappeared  from  among  the  tribes  of 
Israel.  The  Moabite  inscription  of  the  middle  of  the 
ninth  century  mentions  the  men  of  Gad,  and 

1  •  1  •        1  1  r    ^lesha  and 

places  them  immediately  to  the  north  of  -The  Moabite 
Arnon,  but  does  not  know  of  the  men  of 
Reuben.^  Towards  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century 
Moab  was  as  far  north  as  Medeba,^  but  Omri  drove  him 
back  across  the  Arnon,  and  he  was  tributary  to  Israel  all 
Omri's  days  and   all  Ahab's.^      Then    he   revolted,  and 

^  Num.  xxxii.  34  ff.  (E).  Gad  had  Daibon,  Ataroth  (modern  Attarus),  Aroer, 
Ateiolh-Sophan  unknown,  Jezer  and  Jogbeha  in  the  north,  near  Jabbok, 
Beth-Nimra  unknown,  and  Beth-Haran,  see  p.  48S.  Reuben  had  Heshbon, 
Elealeh,  now  El-Al,  to  the  north  of  Heshbon,  Kiriathaim,  now  Kureiyat,  south 
of  Wady  Zerka  Ma'in,  Nebo,  Baal-Me'on,  and  the  unknown  Shibmah. 

-  Josh.  xiii.  15  ff.  (P?). 

*  Cf.  Stade,  Gesch.  148.  But  Stade  is  surely  wrong  when  he  maintains 
that,  at  the  time  of  the  crossing  of  the  Jordan,  Reuben  had  no  territory  about 
Heshbon,  and  that  he  only  came  there  later.  There  is  no  trace  of  this,  and 
Stade  himself  owns  not  to  be  able  to  discover  where  Reuben's  seat  could  be 
before  it  was  Hesbon. 

■•  1.  10  :  '  men  of  Gad  had  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Ataroth  from  of  old. ' 
^  Or  Mehedeba,  Moabite  Stone,  11.  7  and  8. 

*  2  Kings  i.  I  ;  iii.  5.  Mesha  puts  his  revolt  in  the  middle  of  Ahab's 
reign,  1.  8.  We  might  correct  the  Bible  narrative  by  this  contemporary 
document ;  but  the  death  of  a  king  was  the  usual  moment  chosen  for  a  revolt 
such  as  Mesha's. 


568   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

sweeping  north,  took  and  rebuilt,  he  tells  us,  all  the  towns 
we  already  know  between  the  Arnon  and  Nebo.^  It  is 
interesting  that  he  does  not  profess  to  have  taken  Hesh- 
bon.  The  kings  of  Judah,  Israel  and  Edom  contrived  to 
defeat  Moab,-  but  without  result.  Mesha  or  his  successors 
must  have  pushed  their  conquests  farther  north,  for  in 
the  time  of  the  great  prophets  we  find  Moab,  except  for 
a  short  interval,  in  possession  of  all  their  ancient  territory 
even  north  of  the  Wady  Hesban.^  From  the  Moabites 
the  land  passed  to  Arabs  and  Nabateans.* 

It  was  the  Hasmoneans  who  won  back  for  Israel  these 

ancient  seats  of  Reuben.      That  curious  personage,  the 

Jewish   priest   Hyrcanus,  who  was  driven   b}^ 

The  Hasmo-    ^  ^  ■> 

neans  in         his  brothers  across  Jordan,  had  built  the  won- 

Moab.  ■' 

derful  castle  and  caves  of  Tyrus,  now  'Arak  el 
Emir,  and  established  a  kind  of  kingdom.  But  he  killed 
himself  in  176  B.C.-''  John  Hyrcanus  took  Medeba,*^  and 
Alexander  Janneus   made  the   Moabites  tributary.''     He 

1  Aroer,  Daibon,  Jahaz,  Kiriathaim,  Beth-Bamoth,  Baal-Me'on,  Mehedeba, 
Beth-Diblathen,  and  he  destroyed  'Ataroth  and  Nebo. 

"  2  Kings  iii. 

"  Amos  (vi.  14)  sets  the  boundary  of  the  kingdom  of  Jeroboam  11.  at  the  brook 
of  the  'Arabah.  If  this,  as  is  generally  supposed,  means  some  water-course  at 
the  south  end  of  the  Dead  Sea,  Jeroboam  11.  had  again  reduced  Moab,  which 
is  very  probable.  Isaiah  xv.  xvi.  speaks  of  Hesbon,  Elealeh,  and  Jazer  as 
Moabite.  In  Jer.  xlviii.  45  Hesbon  seems  to  stand  outside  Moab.  In 
Ezek.  XXV.  9,  Medeba  is  Moab's. 

^  I  Mace.  ix.  35  ff. :  toi)s  '^avaralov^,  the  viol  'lafi^pl  e/c  MijSa/Sd  in  this 
passage  may  be  compared  with  the  name  la'meru  1"lCy^  in  the  Nabatean 
inscription  from  Umm-er-Resas,  C.I.S.  ii.  195,  and  with  the  'Afxapalov 
TToldes  of  Josephus  xiii.  An^(.  i.  2  ;  Clermont  Ganneau,  Joiirnal  Asiatique, 
1891,  p.  542. 

^  Josephus  xii.  Antt.  iv.  ii.  The  best  accounts  of  'Arak  el  Emir  are 
'MqxxWVs  East  of  /ordan,  Io6ff. ;  Tx\six:im,  Land  of  Isi-ael,  520;  and  Conder, 
Heth  and  Moab,  168  ff. 

*•  xiii.  Antt.  ix.  i.     About  127  ij.c. 

^  Ibid.  xiii.  5.     Before  90  B.C. 


Moab  and  the  Coming  of  Is7'acl  569 

built  as  the  Jewish  bulwark  to  the  south  the  great 
fortress  of  Mekawar,^  in  Greek  Machacrus,  to  -  da}- 
Mkawr.      It  was   c^iven    up   to   the    Romans, 

,    ,  Machaerus 

and   destroyed    by    Gabinius,  but   Herod    re-    and  the 

Hcrods. 

built  it,  making  another  Masada.^  Pliny  calls 
Machaerus  the  second  citadel  of  Judasa.^  It  lay  on  the 
border  of  Persea,  or  the  tetrarchy  of  Herod  Antipas ; 
to  the  south  of  it  were  the  domains  of  Aretas,  Herod's 
father-in-law,  king  of  the  Nabateans.*  When,  for  the 
sake  of  Herodias,  Herod  intrigued  to  divorce  the  daughter 
of  Aretas,  she  begged  to  be  sent  to  Machaerus,  and 
Herod  having  let  her  go,  she  easily  escaped  from  it  to 
one  of  her  father's  camps  on  the  Arnon.^  It  is  interest- 
ing that  we  have  two  inscriptions  from  about  this  date 
of  the  strategi  or  commanders  of  these  camps.''  Aretas, 
like  Herod,  was  a  vassal  of  Rome,  but  instead  of  appeal- 
ing   to    his    suzerain    to    right    the    wrong   done    to    his 

"1130  or  "11130.  Some  readings  in  the  Talmud  and  Targums  insert  a 
V  or  b  (Lightfoot,  Opera,  Ed.  Leusden  ii.  582 ;  Levy,  Nezihehrdisches 
PVorterbuch,  sub  voce  11130).  Josephiis  gives  Maxat/joOj ;  Pliny,  Machaerus. 
For  its  building  by  Alexander  Janneus  see  Josephus,  vii.  JFars,  vi.  2. 

-  Josephus,  xiv.  Antf.  v.  2  ;  vi.  i  ;  vii.  Wars,  vi.  2 ;  i.  IVars,  vii.  2. 

^  H.N.  V.  16.  ■*  Josephus,  xviii.  Antt.  v.  i. 

^  Ibid.  Josephus  cannot  possibly  have  meant  to  say  what  some  words  of 
this  passage,  as  they  now  stand,  imply,  viz.,  that  Machaerus  belonged  at  this 
time  to  Aretas.  Hitherto  there  had  been  no  reason  either  of  peace  or  war 
for  Herod's  surrender  of  this  fortress ;  the  rest  of  this  passage  implies  that 
Herod  let  his  wife  go  to  a  fortress  still  his  own,  and  it  is  only  after  she 
reaches  Machaerus  that  Josephus  talks  of  her  coming  'into  Arabia,'  and 
under  the  charge  of  her  father's  generals.  The  clause,  therefore,  assigning 
Machaerus  to  Aretas  must  be  corrupt.     See  next  note  as  to  the  frontier. 

•^  One  inscription  at  Umm-er-Resas,  the  other  at  Medeba.  Corpus  Inscrip, 
Semit.,  Pars  ii.  torn.  ii.  Nos.  195,  196.  The  former  is  39  a.d.,  the  latter 
37.  The  latter  does  not  prove  the  possession  of  Medeba  in  that  year  by  the 
Nabateans,  for  it  is  not  in  situ,  and  it  may  have  been  brought  from  a  dis- 
tance. In  any  case,  the  position  of  the  Jews  and  Nabateans  in  Moab  in  37, 
tells  us  nothing  upon  the  question  of  the  previous  note,  as  to  their  frontier 
a  few  years  before,  when  Aretas'  daughter  fled  from  Herod. 


570   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


daughter,  he  prepared  himself  to  go  to  war  against  Herod. 
Herod  moved  south  to  Machaerus  to  meet  him,  bringing 
his  new  wife,  Herodias,  and  her  daughter  Salome.  Aretas 
lingered,  and  in  the  respite  Herod  turned  to  deal  with 
another  foe,  whom  his  scandalous  conduct  had  aroused 
within  his  own  domains.^  John  the  Baptist,  preaching  in 
Peraea,  had  denounced  the  marriage  of  Herodias,  and 
Herod  arrested    him,   and  cast  him   into  the 

The  murder  i-ii\/ri  iiii  i- 

of  John  the  dungcons,  which  Machaerus  held  beneath  its 
^^  '^ '  royal  palace.  Here  the  revelry  of  the  king's 
birthday  took  place,  and  in  the  same  moments,  within 
the  same  walls,  the  murder  of  the  prophet.^  Machaerus 
overlooks  the  Dead  Sea — it  was  another  of  those  awful 
tragedies,  for  which  nature  has  furnished  here  so  sym- 
pathetic a  theatre.^  But  it  was  not  the  last  of  them. 
Like  Masada  Machaerus  formed  one  of  the  refuges  of 
the  Jewish  zealots,  who  escaped  from  the  overthrow  of 
Jerusalem.  Though  unable  to  take  it  by  storm,  the 
Romans  compelled  its  surrender  through  sheer  menace, 
slaughtered  a  large  part  of  the  garrison  and  razed  the 
walls.'^ 

We  cannot  pass  on  without  noticing  that  Moses  and 
John,    the    first    and    the    last    of  the    prophets,  thirteen 

1  Matt.  xiv.  3  ff. 

^  Josephus  (xviii.  Antt.  v.  2)  is  our  only  authority  for  the  imprisonment  and 
murder  of  the  Baptist  in  Machaerus.  Matthew  (xiv.  3  ff. )  and  Mark  (vi.  17  fif.) 
mention  no  place.  Keim's  observation  {Jesus  of  Nazara,  iv.  217)  that 
Mark  vi.  21  implies  Tiberias  is  utterly  gratuitous,  and  an  answer,  if  needed,  is 
supplied  by  himself  (/<!'.  218,  note  i),  when  he  points  out  that  Galilee,  as  in 
Mark's  account,  is  often  used  by  Josephus  of  the  whole  tetrarchy  of  Antipas. 
Wieseler's  theory,  that  the  banquet  took  place  in  Livias,  the  execution  in 
Machaerus,  is  impossible. 

3  See  p.  499. 

*  Josephus,  vii.  Wars,  vi.  2  f.  On  the  present  condition  of  the  site  see 
Burckhardt,  Tristram,  Conder,  and  other  travellers. 


Moab  and  the  Co?/ dug-  of  Israel  5  7 1 

centuries  between  them,  closed  their  lives  almost  on  the 
same  spot.  Within  sight  also  is  the  scene  of  the  trans- 
lation of  Elijah. 

The  only  other  sites  in  this  neighbourhood  famed  in 
those  times  were  Heshbon,  then  Essebon,  which  gave  its 
name  to  the  district  of  Sebonitis,^  and  Callirrhoe,  probabl}- 
the  hot  springs  of  the  Wady  Zerka  Ma'in. 

^  Josephus,  ii.  IVars,  xviii.  I,  Zfj^uinris ;  xii.  Aiitt.  iv.  il,  'Ecrcre/Swz'rTis  ; 
XV.  Antt.  viii.  5,  'Eo-fjSw^'rTis.  The  LXX.  spell  the  name  of  the  town 
'Ecre/3a>c,  'E(r/3o0s,  which  latter  is  also  given  by  Eusebius  and  Jerome  in  the 
Onotnasticon.  In  the  Christian  era  it  was  the  seat  of  a  Bishop.  The  ruins 
in  Wady  Ilesban  bear  the  marks  of  Crusaders. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 
ISRAEL  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN 


673 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Maps  /.,  ///.  ajid  V. 


ISRAEL  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN 

WE  now  proceed  to  what,  through  so  many  centuries, 
was  Israel's  only  proper  territory  east  of  Jordan 
— the  Land  of  Gilead.  Gilead,  let  us  remember,  extends 
from  the  edge  of  the  plateau  of  Moab  to  the  Yarmuk, 
and  is  cut  into  halves  by  the  Jabbok.  Israel's  defeat  of 
Sihon  had  given  them  the  southern  half,  and  brought 
them  to  this  river.  But  the  Sacred  Narrative  carries  Israel 
in  the  days  of  Moses  across  the  northern  half  of  Gilead 
and  up  to  Bashan.  To  the  story  of  Sihon  it  adds  the 
story  of  Og. 

We  are  not  offered  the  same  evidence  in  this  case  as 
in  the  previous.  No  song  has  been  preserved  that  illus- 
trates the  war  against  Og,  and  the  story  is  og,  king  of 
confined  to  the  Deuteronomic  documents.  ^'^^^^"• 
Accordingly,  eve-n  critics,  who  believe  in  the  reality  of 
Sihon  and  of  his  overthrow  by  Israel,  have  doubted 
whether  Og  ever  existed  or  Israel  made  so  early  an 
advance  so  far  north  as  Bashan. 

I  have  given  elsewhere  ^  detailed  answers  to  these  doubts, 
and  here  need  only  emphasise  the  geographical  probability 
of  Israel's  advance  towards  Bashan  before  they  crossed 
the  Jordan.  Israel,  it  seems  certain,  were  settled  for  some 
time  in  Moab,  the  country  to  the  north  was  attractive,  no 

^  Appendix,  on  the  Wars  against  Sihon  and  Og. 


576    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  La7id 

obstacle  like  Jordan  shut  it  off,  and,  besides,  a  chief,  such 
as  Og  is  represented  to  be,  was  not  likely  to  be  quiescent 
before  so  strong  an  invader  on  his  own  side  of  the  river. 
No  other  invader  of  Syria  from  the  south-east  has  crossed 
Jordan  without  conquering  Eastern  Palestine,  sometimes 
even  as  far  as  Damascus.^  Og  is  represented  as  govern- 
ing the  country  to  the  Jabbok.  But  there  is  no  record 
of  Israel's  advance  from  the  Jabbok  to  the  Yarmuk. 
Og  met  them  at  Edrei,  east  of  the  source  of  the  latter 
river.  Edrei,  the  present  'Adhra'a,^  is  a  very  strong 
position,  on  the  south  of  the  gorge  that  forms  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  plain  of  Hauran.  The  gorge  winds,  and 
Undergronnd  with  a  tributary  ravine  isolates  the  present 
Ediei.  ^j|.y  Qj^  ^ji  i^^j.  ^YiQ  southern  side,  by  which  it 

can  be  approached  on  the  level.  But  the  citadel  is  com- 
pletely cut  off,  upon  a  hill  which  stands  forward  on  the 
gorge,  and  probably  with  the  caves  below  it  held  the 
whole  ancient  town.  These  caves  are  one  of  the  wonders 
of  Eastern  Palestine.  They  form  a  great  subterranean 
city,  a  labyrinth  of  streets  with  shops  and  houses  on  either 
side,  and  a  market-place.^  How  old  the  whole  is  we 
cannot  say.  The  Bible  makes  no  mention  of  so  great  a 
marvel,  which  is,  therefore,  probably  to  be  dated  from 
later  times.     Bashan  was  full  of  cities  *  besides  Edrei,  as 

^  One  thinks  especially  of  how  the  Nabateans  pushed  their  conquest  up  to 
Damascus,  even  in  face  of  Greek  powers,  and  how  the  Mohammedans  took 
Damascus  before  they  took  Jerusalem. 

'•"ITS,  Modern  Arabic  orthography  is  Dara'at,  but  the  Bedouin  preserve 
the  most  ancient  pronounciation  'Azra'at.     The  Greeks  spelt  it  'ASpaa. 

2  Wetzstein,  Reisebericht,  47  f.  Porter,  Five  Years  in  Damascus.  From 
the  entrance  in  the  gorge,  we  penetrated  for  fifty  yards,  and  were  stopped  by 
a  great  and  recent  fall  of  the  rock.  Our  guides  told  us  the  passage  had  been 
blown  up  by  the  Kaimakam  to  prevent  the  labyrinth  being  used  by  fugitives 
from  military  service  and  justice. 

^  Dcut.  iii. 


Israel  in  Gilead  and Bashan  577 

it  is  to-da)%  but  almost  none  of  the  present  ruins  c^o  back 
beyond  the  Christian  era. 

Less  clear  than  Israel's  conquest  of  Og  is  their  occupa- 
tion of  his  land,  for  the  accounts  of  it  differ,  and  many  hold 
that  the  interpretation  of  them  is,  that  Manas-  Haif-tnbeof 
seh's  settlement  in  Half  Gilead  (north  of  the  Manassch. 
Jabbok)  and  in  Bashan  took  place  not  before  Israel's  pas- 
sage of  the  Jordan,  but  from  Western  Palestine,  and  after 
the  settlement  of  the  tribe  to  the  north  of  Ephraim.  There 
are,  however,  reasons  against  this,  and  in  favour  of  the  earlier 
settlement :  so  that,  on  our  present  evidence,  the  matter 
must  remain  uncertain.^  But  at  whatever  period  Hebrew 
tribes  first  settled  in  Gilead,  Gilead  thereafter 

Gilead, 

contmued  to  be  the  peculiar  domain  of  Israel    Israel's  pro- 
on  the  east  of  Jordan.     The  reasons  for  this, 
with  all  the  consequent  movements  of  history  in  Gilead,  are 
as  clear  as  the  questions  of  her  various  localities  and  sites 
are  obscure.     Gilead  is  still  only  a  half-explored  country. 

^  Num.  xxxii.  i,  JE  states  that  only  Reuben  and  Gad  asked  Moses  for 
land  east  of  Jordan.  It  is  other  sources  which  add  to  their  settlement  there 
the  settlement  of  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh  (Deut.  and  Num.  xxxii.  33, 
assigned  by  most  to  the  redactor).  Deborah's  song  seems  to  speak  of  Machir  as 
a  western  clan  (Judges  v.  14).  The  story  of  how  Machir,  son  of  Manasseh,  took 
Gilead,  and  Jair,  the  son  of  Manasseh,  took  its  camp-villages  and  called  them 
Ilavoth-Jair,  is  attached  by  an  earlier  document  (J)  to  the  story  of  the  settlement 
of  Eastern  Palestine  under  Moses  (Num.  xxxii.  39  ff. ).  But  Judges  x.  assigns 
Ilavoth-Jair  to  Jair  a  Gileadite  in  the  days  of  the  Judges  {see  p.  551).  Well- 
hausen  says  {Hist.  2nd  ed.  p.  33)  that  this  makes  'probable'  the  invasion  of 
Gilead  by  Manasseh  after  the  conquest  of  Western  Palestine.  Stade  (Gesch. 
163)  thinks  it  happened  when  Reuben  and  Gad,  whom  he  supposes  to  have 
first  settled  in  Gilead,  pushed  south  to  Moab.  But,  as  we  have  seen,  p.  275, 
Reuben  and  Gad  were  in  Moab  from  the  first,  and  Stade  gives  no  date,  proof, 
or  trace  of  proof,  for  the  movement  he  imputes  to  them.  Budde  (Richtu.  Sa»i, 
pp.  32  ff. ),  by  an  able  and  ingenious  argument,  points  out  that  the  children  of 
Joseph  could  not  (Josh.  xvii.  14-18)  have  complained  to  Joshua  that  they  had 
only  one  lot,  if  besides  their  western  territory  they  had  already  from  Moses  a 
territory  east  of  Jordan,  and  he  proposes  by  inserting  'Gilead'  in  ver.  18,  to 

2  O 


5/8    The  Histo7'icaL  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Why  Gilead  constituted  the  eastern  domain  of  Israel 
may  be  understood  from  her  formation.     Gilead  is  the  only 

Reasons      P^^'*-  °^  Eastern  Palestine  which  corresponds  to 

for  this.  |-i^g  territories  of  Israel  in  the  West.  Gilead 
is  mountain  or  hill-country  between  the  two  great 
plateaus  of  Moab  and  Hauran.  Hauran  was  swept  by 
the  Arameans  or  Syrians,  a  people  with  chariots  ;  north 
of  the  Yarmuk  Israel  seldom  got  footing.  Moab  south, 
and  the  level  country  east  of  Gilead,  were  swept  by  the 
Arabs  and  Ammonites.  But  neither  Aram  from  the 
north,  nor  Ammon  from  the  south,  though  they  sometimes 
carried  fire  and  sword  across  Gilead,  was  able  to  drive  the 
Hebrews  from  those  high-wooded  ridges  between  Moab 
and  the  Yarmuk,  which  formed  almost  as  integral  a 
portion  of  Israel  as  the  hill-country  of  Judah,  or  the  hill- 
country  of  Ephraim.  Gilead  was  also,  we  must  remember, 
in  close  communication  with  Western  Palestine,  as  neither 
Bashan  nor  Moab  could  ever  be. 

Accordingly,  we  find  in  Gilead,  from  the  earliest  times  to 
the  Assyrian  captivity,  Hebrew  communities,  centres  and 
rallying-places  for  Hebrew  dynasties,  Hebrew  character  and 
heroism,  with  prophecy,  the  distinctive  glory  of  Hebrew 


make  this  the  new  lot  which  Joshua  granted  them.  But  there  is  no  evidence 
in  the  passage  of  '  Gilead  '  having  fallen  out  of  the  text,  or  of  its  being  meant 
by  Joshua.  Nor  could  it  have  helped  the  House  of  Joseph  against  the 
Canaanites  of  Western  Palestine  (ver.  i8)  to  have  occupied  Gilead.  And,  as 
Stade  observes  (Gesch.  163),  it  is  not  clear  that  Joshua  did  grant  them  a 
second  lot.  The  arguments  to  prove  the  invasion  of  Northern  Gilead  from 
Western  Palestine,  are,  therefore,  inconclusive.  Note,  on  the  other  side, 
that  Gilead  is  said  to  be  father  of  Abiezer  and  Shechem  (Num.  xxvi,  29  f.  P  ; 
Josh.  xvii.  2,  JE),  and  therefore  older  in  Manasseh's  history  than  these 
western  towns  of  the  tribe,  and  that  while  Judges  xii.  4  (a  narrative  probably 
from  the  period  of  the  early  Kings)  speaks  of  some  Gileadites  as  late  immi- 
grants into  their  territory,  it  assumes  that  Manasseh  had  previously  occupied 
this. 


Isi'ael  in  Gilcad  and  Bashan  579 

life.  Deborah's  song  actually  substitutes  Gilcad  for  Gad 
as  the  name  of  a  tribe  in  Israel.^  In  his  pursuit  of  the 
Midianites  Gideon  finds  in  Gilcad  two  com-  ciiead  and 
munities,  Succoth  and  Penuel,  from  which  he  history  of 
expects  the  same  devotion  to  Israel  as  he  ^^'■''^'^'• 
would  from  any  towns  in  Ephraim.-  Two  of  the  judges 
are  Gileadite.  One  of  them,  Jair,  lives  on  the  very  east 
of  the  province,  on  the  border  of  the  desert,  where  men 
inhabit  not  cities  but  camps.^  The  other  is  the  imposing 
figure  of  Jephthah,  Israel's  champion  against  the  Ammon- 
ites, who  occupied  the  fertile  land  on  the  waters  of  the 
Upper  Jabbok.  The  story  of  Jephthah  throbs  with  the 
sense  of  common  interest  between  Gilead  and  Ephraim.* 
Mizpeh  in  Gilead  was  the  gathering-place  of  all  Israel 
against  Benjamin.^  Again,  when  the  Ammonites  threat- 
ened the  helpless  Jabesh-Gilead,  Saul  proved  his  title  as 
king  of  All-Israel  by  succouring  this  Eastern  city,^  a 
service  which  its  citizens  remembered  when  they  rescued 
his  body  from  insult  at  Bethshan,  and  gave  it  burial  with 
themselves/  It  was  certainly  with  some  thought  of  all  this 
that  Abner  vainly  tried,  in  Gilead,  to  restore  Saul's  dynasty.^ 
By  his  conquests  over  Ammon  and  Aram  of  Damascus 
and  Sobah,  David  was  the  first  to  bring  all  Eastern 
Palestine  under  Israel's  suzerainty.^  So  com-  Eastern 
pletely  had  David  won  the  hearts  of  Eastern  ^^p^'e^r  David 
Israel  that  when  Absalom's  rebellion  broke  and  Solomon. 
out  he  sought  a  refuge  in  Gilead,  and  made   his  head- 

^  Judges  V.  17.  2  Judges  viii. 

*  Judges  X.  3-5.  See  p.  575.  Nobah  went  still  farther  east  to  Kanatha 
in  the  Jebel  Hauran,  Num.  xxxii.  42. 

■*  Judges  X.  ft".  5  /(/.  XX.  I.  "  I  Sam,  xi. 

^  I  Sam.  xxxi.  11-13.  *  2  Sam.  ii. 

®  2  Sam.  viii.  and  x.  The  exact  degree  of  the  subjection  of  Aram  to  David 
is  left  in  doubt.     Sobah  lay  to  the  north  of  Damascus. 


580   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

quarters  Mahanaim,  where  Abner  had  crowned  Ish- 
bosheth.  The  great  woods  of  Gilead  live  before  us  in 
the  story  of  the  subsequent  battle,  when  the  rough  wood- 
la7id  imdtiplied  to  devour  more  people  than  the  sword,  and 
Absalom  was  hanged  by  his  long  hair  in  the  oak.^ 
Solomon  did  not  retain  all  the  Eastern  conquests  of  his 
father,  and  in  his  day  Damascus  grew  to  that  power 
which  made  her,  for  the  next  three  centuries,  so  formid- 
able a  foe  to  Israel.-  After  the  disruption  Gilead  remained 
with  the  northern  kingdom,  opposite  which  it  lay,  and 
with  which  it  had  easy  communication  by  the  fords  of 
Jordan.^  Jeroboam  fortified  Penuel,  and,  for  a  time,  may 
have  made  it  his  capital.*  Soon  afterwards  Gilead  gave 
Elijah  the  ^^  Israel  a  great  personality.  Elijah  the  Tish- 
Tishbite.  ^^Y^  breaks  across  Jordan  from  Tishbeh  in 
Gilead^  with  the  same  suddenness  as  in  the  end  he 
disappears  across  the  same  river.  In  Gilead  we  must 
also  seek  for  the  Brook  Cherith,  the  scene  of  his  retreat.*' 
During  the  reign  of  Ahab,  Damascus  and  Israel  fought 
Aram  and  ^^  allies  against  Assyria,'''  but  from  this  event 
Samaria.  on  Ward  they  were  foes.  They  met  on  Israelite 
territory  and  Aram  was  beaten,  met  again  at  Aphek,  on 
Aramean  territory  above  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  where  the 
great   road    still    comes   along    from    Damascus    to    the 


^  2  Sam.  xviii.  8,  10.  On  the  name  Ephraim  (ver.  6)  on  that  side  Jordan 
see  p.  335. 

-  The  idea  that  Solomon  built  Tadmor  or  Palmyra  must  be  abandoned. 
For  Tadmor  in  i  Kings  ix.  18  read  Tamar,  a  town  in  Judah.     See  p.  270. 

^  On  the  connection  of  Ephraim  with  Eastern  Palestine  see  p.  335. 

*  So  it  seems  from  the  close  connection  between  his  abandonment  of 
Shechem  and  building  of  Penuel,  i  Kings  xii.  25. 

*  I  Kings  xvii.  i  ;  LXX. 

®  It  is  described  as  before,  i.e.  to  the  east  oi,  Jordan,  i  Kings  xvii.  3,  5. 
'  At  Karkar  in  854  B.C. 


Israel  in  Gilead  and  Bashan  581 

Jordan,^  and  Aram  was  beaten  once  more.  Later,  the 
Arameans  took  Ramoth  in  Gilead,  and  Ahab  fell  in  the 
effort  to  regain  it.-  After  .some  years,  in  which  the 
Arameans  kept  up  war  against  Western  Palestine,-'  and 
besieged  Samaria,"*  Joram,  grandson  of  Ahab,  won  back 
Ramoth-Gilead,  but  it  was  still  contested  by  Aram,^  and 
Jehu  was  serving  in  the  garrison  when  he  was  anointed 
to  destroy  the  House  of  Omri.  In  Jehu's  reign,  and 
perhaps  because  of  the  internal  troubles  consequent  on 
his  usurpation  of  the  throne,  Hazael  of  Damascus,  sweep- 
ing to  the  Arnon,  was  able  to  conquer  all  Israel's  posses- 
sions east  of  Jordan.*^  It  is  probably  to  the  barbarities  of 
this  campaign,  in  which  Aram  was  joined  by  Am.mon  and 
Moab,  that  Amos  refers :  For  three  transgressions  of 
Damascus,  and  for  four,  I  zvill  not  turn  it  azvay  ;  for  they 
have  threshed  Gilead  with  threshing-sledges  of  iron.  For 
three  transgressions  of  the  children  of  Amnion,  and  for 
four,  I  will  not  turn  it  aivay  ;  for  they  have  ripped  up  the 
mothers  of  Gilead — to  enlarge  their  border  f^  Bands  of 
Moabites  used  to  invade  Western  Palestine  at  the  coming 
in  of  the  year,  and  Hazael  and  Ben-Hadad,  kings  of  Syria, 
oppressed  Israel  all  their  days? 

During  these  evil  times  the  prophet  Elisha,  genuine 
borderman   as  he  was  (from  Abel-meholah  on  Jordan),^ 

^  The  present  Fik.  Wellhausen  and  Robertson  Smith  are  surely  wrong  in 
identifying  this  Aphek  with  that  where  the  Philistines  mustered.  See  pp. 
204,  401.     The  narrative  of  the  war  between  Israel  and  Aram,  i  Kings  xx. 

^  I  Kings  xxii.  ^  2  Kings  v.  2  ;  vi.  8. 

*  Id.  vi.  24  ff.  ;  vii.  ^  Id.  ix.  I,  4,  14. 

*  Id.  X.  32.  ^  Amos  i.  3,  13.  ®  2  Kings  xiii.  2. 

®  I  Kings  xix.  16,  somewhere  in  Jordan,  probably  south  of  the  great  plain 
of  Bethshan,  Judges  vii.  22  ;  i  Kings  iv.  12.  Eusebius  and  Jerome,  in  the 
0)W)nasticon,  'A[3€\fxa€\ai,  place  it  in  the  Ghor,  ten  miles  south  of  Bethshan, 
at  a  spot  called,  in  their  day,  Brid /xaieM.  Conder  suggests  'Ain  Helweh, 
nine  and  a  half  miles  south  of  Beth-shan. 


582    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

expert  in  camp-life,  ambush  and  scouting/  inspired  with 
political  foresight,^  had  also  been  the  moral  stay  and  inspira- 
tion of  his  broken  people — altogether,^  through 

Elisha.  ,  ,  ,  ,.  .  .  . 

those  three  long  distractmg  reigns,  tlie  very 
cJiariot  of  Israel  and  the  horsemen  thereof?'  His  bequest  to 
Israel  was  hope :  dying,  he  prophesied  that  the  young 
Joash  should  thrice  smite  the  Syrians  at  Aphek.^  And  so  it 
came  to  pass.  Joash  recovered  from  Aram  what  Jehoahaz 
had  lost,*^  and  under  the  next,  the  long  glorious  reign  of 
Jeroboam  II.,  Israel  enjoyed  supremacy  up  to  her  ideal 
borders,  Hamath  and  the  Dead  Sea,  and  probably  occu- 
pied part  of  the  very  territory  of  Damascus.''  This  lasted 
for  fifty  years.  The  prophet  Hosea  treats  Gilead  as  if 
it  were  as  integral  a  part  of  the  kingdom  as  Ephraim.^ 
The  captivity  ^^t  then  Came  the  flood  which  was  to  devas- 
ofGiiead.  ^.^^.^  ^;|.j^  equal  thoroughness  both  Western 
and  Eastern  Palestine.  In  734  TiglatJi-pileser,  king  of 
Assyria,  came  and  took  If  on  and  Abel-beth-maacah,  and 
fanoah,  and  Kedesh,  and  Hazor,  and  Gilead,  and  Galilee,  all 
Gilead  in  ^l^^  /««(^  of  Naplitall,  and  carried  them  captive 

the  Prophets.  ^^  Assyrid?  The  eastern  territories  of  Israel 
w^ere  left  to  the  Ishmaelites.  Isaiah  does  not  once  men- 
tion Gilead.  Micah  has  only  a  prayer  that  God's  flock  may 
pasture  again  in  Bashan  and  Gilead,  as  in  days  of  oldP 


■^  These  practical  qualities  of  Elisha,  so  difierent  from  those  of  Elijah,  are 
obvious,  from  all  the  marvellous  narratives  of  2  Kings  iv.  38  ff.  ;  vi.  1-23  ; 
especially  12  ;  Elisha,  the  prophet  that  is  in  Israel,  telleth  the  king  of  Israel 
the  words  thou  speakest  in  thy  bedchamber. 

^  2  Kings  viii.  7  ff.  ;  ix.  3.  ^  Id.  vi.  1 3- 1 7. 

*  Id.  xiii.  14.  '^  Id.  xiii.  17. 
®  Id.  xiii.  25. 

''  Id.  xiv.  28,  not  necessarily  Damascus  itself. 
^  Hosea  vi.  8;  xii.  Ii.     Cf.  Obad.  19. 

*  2  Kings  XV.  29.  1"  Micah  vii.  14. 


Israel  in  Gilead  and  Bashan  583 

To  Jeremiah,  Gilead  is  only  a  fi^jurc  and  a  proverb,  whose 
pathos  is  deepened  by  her  abandonment  by  Israel;  Is  there 
no  balm  in  Gilead,  no  physician  there  ?  ^  But,  in  the  days 
of  the  great  captivity,  Zechariah  names  Gilead  as  a  pro- 
mise:  /  will  bring  them  again  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
and  gatJier  them  out  of  Assyria  ;  and  I  zvill  bring  them  doivn 
info  the  land  of  Gilead  and  Lebanon}  The  returned  people 
shall  be  so  many  that  Gilead  shall  be  needed,  and  even 
Lebanon,  for  the  overflow  of  them. 


Such,  then,  is  the  history  of  Gilead,  a  history  of  con- 
stant war,  all  the  tangled  lines  of  which  become  intelligible 
when  you  recognise  the  position  of  this  terri- 

-  .  Uncertainty 

tory — high  forest  ridges  between  the  river  of  sites 
Jordan  and  the  desert,  between  the  two  great 
plateaus  of  Moab  and  Hauran.  But  when  you  come  to 
details,  and  seek  to  fasten  names,  and  trace  the  scenery  of 
separate  events,  you  are  baffled.  In  all  Syria  sites  are 
nowhere  less  fixed  than  in  Gilead.  There  is  only  one 
identification  which  is  certain  ;  there  are,  perhaps,  two 
more  which  are  probable. 

The  certainty  is  the  Jabbok  or  Yabbok.  One  has  seen 
this  Jabbok  from  one's  childhood, — the  midnight  passage 
of  a   ford,  the  brief  section  of  a  river  gleam- 

1  1  111  11111  "The  Jabbok. 

ing  under  torches,  splashed  and  ploughed  by 
struggling  animals,  cries  of  women  and  children  above  the 
noise  ;  and  then,  left  alone,  with  the  night,  the  man  and 
the   river, — for    the   narrative   betokens   some  sympathy 

^  Jer.  viii.  22.  -  Zech.  .\.  lo. 


584   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

between  the  two  tortuous  courses  :  ^  the  wrestle  with  God 
beside  the  struggHng  stream,  and  the  dawn  breaking 
down  the  valley  on  a  changed  life.  Now,  to-day  there  is 
no  river  in  Syria  which  you  associate  more  with  the  height 
of  noon :  groups  of  cattle  standing  to  the  knee  in 
water,  brakes  of  oleanders  soaked  in  sunshine,  and  a  fair 
array  of  fields  on  either  side,  scattered  over  with  reapers 
and  men  guiding  water  by  ancient  channels  to  orchards 
and  gardens.  From  first  to  last,  the  valley  of  the  Jabbok 
is  of  great  fertility.  The  head-waters  of  the  river  rise 
on  the  edge  of  Moab,  only  some  eighteen  miles  from  the 
Jordan,  yet  to  the  east  of  the  water-parting.  So  the  river 
flows  at  first  desertwards,  under  the  name  of  Amman, 
past  Rabbath-Ammon  -  to  the  great  Hajj  road.  There  it 
turns  north,  fetches  a  wide  compass  north-west,  cuts  in 
two  the  range  of  Gilead,  and  by  a  very  winding  bed  flows 
west-south-west  to  the  Jordan.  The  whole  course,  not 
counting  the  windings,  is  over  sixty  miles.  The  water  is 
shallow,  always  fordable,  except  where  it  breaks  between 
steep  rocks,  mostly  brawling  over  a  stony  bed,  muddy, 
and,  at  a  distance,  of  a  grey-blue  colour,  which  brings  it 
its  present  name  of  the  Zerka.  The  best  fields  are  upon 
the  upper  reaches,  where  much  wheat  is  grown,  but  almost 
nowhere  on  the  banks  are  you  out  of  sight  of  sheep,  or 
cattle,  or  tillage.  A  great  road  from  Jordan  follows  the 
valley  all  the  way  to  the  desert,  another  runs  from  the 
desert  by  Amman  to  the  west.^  The  river  has  always  been 
a  frontier  and  a  line  of  traffic.     Some  day  the  valley  will 

pH^  Yabbok,  and  P^XN  Ye'abhek  =  /ze  wrestles.      The    narrative  con- 
necls  the  wrestling  both  with  the  river  and  with  the  place  called  Penuel. 
^  See  the  next  chapter,  on  the  Decapolis. 
^  Merrill,  East  of  the  Jordan,  ch.  xxx. :  '  Exploration  of  the  Jabbok.' 


Israel  in  Gilead  and  Bashan  585 

be  very  populous  and  busy.  Yet  the  highest  fame  of 
Jabbok  will  ever  be  its  first  fame,  and  not  all  the  sun- 
shine, ripening  harvests  along  its  live  length,  can  be  so 
bright  as  that  first  gleaming  and  splashing  of  its  waters 
at  midnight,  or  the  grey  dawn  breaking  on  Israel  next 
morning.  The  history  of  Gilead  is  a  history  of  material 
war  and  struggle,  civilisation  enduring  only  by  perpetual 
strife.  But  upon  the  Jabbok  its  first  hero  was  taught 
how  man  has  to  reckon  in  life  with  God  also,  and  that 
his  noblest  struggles  are  in  the  darkness,  with  the 
Unseen. 

The  two  sites  in  Gilead,  whose  identification  is  probable, 
are  both  named  in  Gideon's  pursuit  of  the  Midianites. 
Succoth  may  be  the  present  Tell  Deir  'Alia,  a  guccoth  and 
high  mound  in  the  Jordan  Valley,  about  one  Jogbehah. 
mile  north  of  the  Jabbok.^  Jogbehah  is  surely  echoed  in 
the  present  Jubeihah,  Gubeihah,  or  'Ajbehat,  on  the  road 
from  Salt  to  Amman.-  Gideon  zvent  up  by  the  tuay  of 
them  that  dwell  in  tents  on  the  east  of  Nobah,  unknown,  rt:«^ 
fogbehah.  This  may  mean  the  road  up  the  Jabbok  itself. 
In    any  case,  Gideon,  going  east,  came  from 

.  Penuel. 

Succoth  to  Penuel,  as  Jacob,  gomg  west,  came 
from  Penuel  to  Succoth.     Penuel  was  probably  a  promi- 
nent ridge  near  the  Jabbok,  not  necessarily  to  the  south  of 

^  The  identification  is  due  to  Merrill  {East  of  the  lordan,  pp.  385-388, 
concurred  in  by  Conder,  Heth  and  Moab,  p.  183),  and  has  been  won  through 
the  statement  of  the  Talmud  (Shebiith  ix.  2,  Gemara)  that  the  later  name  of 
Succoth  was  ^?y"l^,  Dar'ala.  Of  course  this  leaves  the  matter  only  probable. 
Psalm  Ix.  6  mentions  the  Vale  of  Succoth,  between  Shechem  and  Gilead. 

2  Judges  viii.  11,  cf.  Num.  xxxii.  35,  42.  This  seems  to  have  been 
Van  de  Velde's  suggestion.  We  visited  the  numerous  ruins  in  1891  ;  our 
search  revealed  nothing  but  some  Greek  carvings.  The  name  'Ajbehat,  or 
'Agbehat,  is  in  my  diary  as  given  me  by  some  Arabs  we  met  there.  Jubeihat 
is  on  the  P.E.F.  Map. 


586   1  he  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

this,  and  above  Succoth.^     We  are    equally  ignorant  of 

Mahanaim.     It  lay  presumably  to  the  north  of  Jabbok, 

and    of  the   great   gorge   of   Jordan,    on    the 

border  of  Gad,  and  not  far  from  Jordan  ;  and  it 

was  an  important  city,  fit  for  a  capital.^     The  other  famous 

names    cannot    be    accurately   fixed — Mizpeh,    Ramath- 

Ramath-       Mizpeh,  Ramoth-Gilcad,  and  the  Land  of  Tob. 

Mizpeh  and    Mizpeh,  the  scene  of  Laban's  covenant  with 

Ramoth-  ^       ' 

Giiead.  Jacob,  has  been  placed  by  Conder  at  Suf,  a 

place  of  dolmens  and  stone-circles  between  'Ajlun  and 
Jerash.^  This  may  be,  but  in  the  diversity  of  other 
accounts  of  a  Mizpeh  in  Giiead,  one  of  which,  Jephthah's 
story,  places  it  on  the  border  of  Ammon,*  another  implies 
that   it   lay   more   to   the   west,^  another   puts  Ramath- 

^  That  Penuel  was  prominent  is  likely,  from  the  analogy  of  the  Phcenician 
headland  known  as  Oeov  Trpdaujirov  (Strabo  xvi.  2,  15  f.).  Gen.  xxxii.  25-33, 
implies  that  it  was  near  Jabbok;  Judges  viii.  8- 11,  that  it  was  above 
Succoth.  If  Jacob  came  from  the  north,  then  Penuel  was  south  of  Jabbok  ; 
if  from  the  east,  then  Penuel  may  have  been  on  either  bank,  for  the  eastern 
road  down  the  Jabbok  valley  crosses  the  river  more  than  once.  Merrill 
suggests  the  Tulul  edh-Dhahab,  round  and  between  which  the  Jabbok  forces 
its  way  into  the  Jordan  (pp.  390-392).  Conder  puts  Penuel  on  the  ridge  of  the 
Jebel  'Osha. 

-  Gen.  xxxii.  l-io  (vv.  4-14^  of  this  chapter  belong  to  J,  vv.  1-3,  i^/>  ft',  to 
E)  seems  to  put  Mahanaim  near  Jordan,  which  would  make  Jacob's  approach 
to  Jabbok  take  place  from  the  north  (see  previous  note).  Abner,  after 
crossing  Jordan,  came  through  the  Bithron  or  Gorge  (2  Sam.  ii.  29),  a  name 
wliich  suits  the  narrow  central  portion  of  the  Jordan  Valley,  to  Mahanaim. 
The  Kikkar,  across  which  Ahimaaz  ran  to  Mahanaim  {id.  xviii.  23)  is  pro- 
l)ably  the  Kikkar  of  Jordan  (see  pp.  335,  505).  Conder  {HefA  and  Moab, 
1S5  ff. )  places  Mahanaim  near  the  Bukei'a,  to  the  east  of  Salt,  a  region  not 
likely  to  contain  so  important  a  town,  and  hardly  on  the  border  of  Gad, 
where  Mahanaim  is  placed  by  Josh.  xiii.  26.  Merrill  (p.  437)  suggests  Khurbet 
Suleikhat,  300  feet  above  the  Ghor,  in  the  Wady  'Ajlun  ;  cf  Kasteren 
{Z.D.P.  V.  xiii.  205),  on  Kh.-Mahne.     Visited  by  Seetzen,  Reise,  i.  385. 

=*  Gen.  xxxi.  49.     Conder,  Hcth   and  Moab.,    181  f.  ;  Oliphant,   La7id  of 
Giiead,  209-216. 
*  Judges  X.  17  ;  xi.  11,  29,  34. 

^  Or  it  could  hardly  have  been  the  gathering-place  of  all  Israel,  against 
Benjamin,  Judges  xx.  xxi. 


Israel  in  Gilead  and  Bashan  587 

Mizpeh  on  the  northern  border  of  Gad,^  while  another 
speaks  of  a  Maspha  or  Mizpeh  in  the  far  north-east  ^ — 
what  certainty  can  we  have  that  these  are  the  same  ?  or, 
if  they  are  the  same,  what  one  site  will  suit  them  all  ? 
Ramoth-Gilead,  which  has  been  assigned  to  at  least  five 
different  places,  probably  lay  north  of  them  all,  near  the 
Yarmuk,  for  it  was  on  debatable  ground  be-  -pj^^  j^^^^^ 
tween  Aram  and  Israel.'^  The  name  of  Land  ofTob. 
of  Tob,'*  which  was  north  of  Mizpeh,  may  survive  in  that 
of  the  Wady  and  village  of  Taiyibeh,  east  of  Pella.^ 

But  while  these  ancient  sites  are  uncertain,  it  ought  to 
be  remembered  that  no  province  has  at  the  present  day 
sites  which,  by  nature  and  the  part  they  have 
played  in  modern  history,  are  more  definitely     historical 
stamped    as   likely  to  have  been    among  the 
famous  sites  of  old.     It  is  impossible  for  us  to  believe  that 
Es-Salt    with    its    Jebel   'Osha,  'Ajlun    with    its    equally 
famous  view-point  and  fortress  in  the  Kula'at-er-Rubaad, 
Pella,  Gadara,   Irbid,   Remtheh,  were   not  famous  in  the 
history  of  Israel  in  Gilead.     Surely  they  were  not  unused. 
It  may  only  be  the  meagreness  of  geographical  details  in  the 
Old  Testament  which  prevents  us  from  identifying  Mizpeh 
with  the  far-seeing  Kula'at-er-Rubaad,  Mahanaim  with  so 
worthy  a  capital  for  Gilead  as  'Ajlun,  or  with  so  historical  a 
site  as  Pella ;  or  from  placing  Ramoth-Gilead  at  Reimun,''  or 

^  Josh.  xiii.  26.  -  Taken  by  Judas  Maccabeus,  i  Mace.  v.  35. 

^  I  Kings  xxii.,  2  Kings  ix. 

^  And  not,  as  Conder  says,  the  district  in  which  Mizpeh  lay,  for  Jephthah 
was  summoned  from  it  to  come  to  Mizpeh,  which  the  narrative  places  near 
the  territory  of  Amnion. 

•^  The  11  as  given  in  the  Syriac  version  of  i  Mace.  v.  13,  and  in  the 
Greek  of  2  Mace.  x.  11,  17,  is  not  a  radical,  but  the  Greek  termination, 
T(Ji(3lov  or  Toi'/Stoi',  Tov^i.7]vol.  Hence  the  P.E.F.  Red.  Map,  1890,  is  wrong 
n  suggesting  Tibneh  to  the  south  of  Taiyibeh, 

®  As  Conder  does. 


588   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

at  Es-Salt,  or  at  the  Kula'at-er-Rubaad,  though,  as  already- 
said,  it  seems  necessary,  from  what  the  Old  Testament  tells 
us  of  the  frequency  with  which  Ramoth-Gilead  was  con- 
tested by  Aram  and  Israel,  to  put  it  farther  north,  near  the 
Yarmuk.  Irbid  and  Ramtheh,  on  the  north-east,  are  both 
of  them  fairly  strong  sites  ;  the  former  is  to-day  the  capital 
of  the  district  of  'Ajlun,  the  latter  a  station  on  the  Hajj 
road,  that  immemorial  line  of  traffic.  Both  of  them  must 
have  been  prominent  places  in  ancient  times. 

But  all  that  can  be  done  to-day  is  to  state  the  topo- 
graphical problems  of  Israel  in  Gilead,  and  leave  their 
solution  till  the  discovery  of  fresh  evidence. 


After  the  return  from  exile  the  Jews  spread  themselves 

across  Eastern   Palestine,  and  came  into  conflict,  as  we 

The  Macca-  ^^^^^  Seen  them  do  in  the  Shephelah,  with  the 

bees  and        j-,g^  xd,zQ  of  Greek  scttlcrs  who  flowed  in  in 

Eastern 

Palestine.  ^^e  wake  of  Alexander  the  Great.  Hellenism 
came  to  terms  with  the  native  paganism  :  the  two  were 
amalgamated.  But  the  Jews  kept  to  themselves,  they 
were  few  and  weak,  and  when  the  great  religious  war 
broke  out  in  the  second  century  they  were  sorely  pressed 
in  their  various  cities.^  Judas  Maccabeus,  who  had  pre- 
viously conquered  the  Ammonites  under  a  Greek  leader,- 
achieved  a  second  victorious  campaign,^  the  course  of 
which  is  hard  to  trace,  but  it  brought  him  as  far  east  as 
Bosra.  He  took  that  town,  and  next  a  place,  Dathema, 
or,  according  to  another  reading,  Rametha,  in  which  it  is 

^  I  Mace.  V.  9.  2  I  Mace,  v,  (>-%. 

^  I  Mace.  V.  24  ft".  ;  the  wilderness  into  which  he  went  three  days'  journey 
must  be  that  to  the  east  of  Ammon  and  Gilead,  whence  he  suddenly  turned  on 
Bosra. 


Israel  in  Gilead  and  Bashan  589 

possible  to  trace  an  echo  of  Ramoth  of  Gilead/  and  next, 
Maspha,-  Casphon,^  Maged,  liosor/  and  other  cities  of  the 
country  of  Galaad.  The  heathen  gathered  a  force  at 
Raphon,^  probably  Raphana  of  the  Decapolis  on  the 
Yarmuk,  but  Judas  defeated  them  and  took  Karnain/' 
with  its  great  temple  to  Atargatis.  Then,  gathering  all 
the  Jews  who  would  come  back  with  him,  he  returned  by 
'  a  great  and  well-fortified '  city  called  Ephron,'^  which  he 
was  forced  to  take  before  he  could  pass,  and  crossed  the 
Jordan  at  Beth-shan. 

It  was  Alexander  Janneus  ^  who  again  brought  Gilead 
within  the  territories  of  Israel.     First  he  took  Gadara,  but 
seems  to  have  been  repulsed  from  Amathus,   Alexander 
a    very    strong    fortress    just    north    of    the   J^^fn'^usm 

■'  t>  J  Eastern 

Jabbok,  now  Amatha.^  On  a  second  cam-  I'akstme. 
paign,  after  overcoming  '  the  Moabites  and  Gileadites,'  he 
destroyed  Amathus  and  its  Greek  defenders,  but  was 
defeated  on  the  Yarmuk  by  Obodas,  the  Arabian.  '  He 
was  thrown  by  means  of  a  multitude  of  camels  into  a  deep 
valley ' — a  fate  of  singular  likeness  to  that  which  the 
Arabs  inflicted  on  the  Byzantine  army  in  634  A.D.,  forcing 
them  by  sheer  weight  of  numbers  into  a  defile  in  the 

^  I  Mace.  V.  9;  Greek,  Aa(?e/xa ;  Syriac,  Rametha.  This  would  confirm 
the  northern  position  of  Ramoth.     See  above,  p.  5  7. 

-  Not  necessarily  Mizpeh  of  Gilead.  The  Syriac  reads  Alim,  Josephus 
Malle. 

•*  Xa(7<pwp  (v.  26),  or  Xaff(pwi',  or  Xaa<pih6  (v.  36). 

*  MaKed  and  Bocrop. 

^  V.  37,  'Pa(pwv  cKwepav  toO  Xeii-Mppov.     See  next  chapter. 

"  V.  26,  Kapvatv.  ^  Vv.  46  ff.  'E^pwj' ;  Syriac,  Ophrah. 

^  B.C.  104-78. 

"  Josephus  (xiii.  Antt.  xiii.  3 ;  i.  Wars,  iv.  2)  says  that  Amathus  was 
taken  by  Alexander,  but  mentions  his  repulse  and  departure  to  other  fields 
immediately  afterwards.  The  Onomasticon  places  Amathus  twenty-one  miles 
south  of  Pella. 


590    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

same  neighbourhood.^  But  Alexander,  though  a  dissolute 
man,  was  a  very  determined  captain.  He  returned  to 
Eastern  Palestine,  and  though  it  cost  him  a  three  years' 
campaign,  84-81,  he  thoroughly  reduced  the  country.  In 
Gilead  he  took  Pella,  Dion  and  Gerasa  ;  in  Bashan,  Golan, 
Seleucia  and  Gamala.^ 

Thus  all  Gilead  and  Bashan  with  Moab  were  again 
Israel's,  and  this  terrible  debauchee  repeated  the  triumphs 
of  a  David  and  a  Jeroboam  II.  Another  Semitic  power, 
the  Nabatean,  held  all  to  the  East,  and  Damascus.  The 
Greek  cities  were  Judaised.     Hellenism  lay  prostrate. 

So  matters  continued  till  the  arrival  of  Pompey  and  the 
Roman  Legions  in  64  B.C.  These  closed  the  dominion  of 
Israel  in  Bashan  and  Gilead,  and  opened  a  new  period  in 
the  history  of  Eastern  Palestine,  which  we  shall  follow  in 
the  next  two  chapters. 

1  Josephus  in  xiii.  Antt.  xiii.  4  places  the  rout  of  Alexander's  army  near 
Gadara,  but  in  i.  Wars,  iv.  4,  near  Gaulana,  i.e.  Golan.  We  must  not  sup- 
pose this  means  that  the  two  were  the  same  place — though  Gadara,  which  is 
not  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament,  nor  identified  with  any  Old  Testament 
name,  is  not  a  wholly  impossible  site  for  Golan,  standing  as  it  does  on  the 
very  border  of  Gaulanitis.  More  probably  Golan  lay  north  of  the  Yarmuk, 
and  the  above  passages  prove  it  must  have  lain  near  the  latter  and  Gadara. 
Sahem  ej  Jaulan  (see  p.  536)  is  seventeen  miles  north-east  of  Gadara  and 
three  miles  from  the  Yarmuk. 

^  Josephus,  xiii.  Antt.  xv.  3,4;  i.  Wars,  iv.  8.  For  Pella,  Dion,  Gerasa 
see  next  chapter.  Pella  was  destroyed  for  the  inhabitants  would  not  accept 
Judaism.  On  Golan  see  previous  note  and  p.  5SO'  Seleucia,  SeXeu/ce/a  (to 
be  distinguished  from  the  great  Seleucia  on  the  Tigris,  Josephus  xiii.  Antt. 
vii.  I ;  xviii.  Antt.  ix.  8,  and  other  cities  of  the  same  name  founded  by 
Seleneus  Nicator),  lay  east  of  Lake  Huleh  (iv.  Wars,  i.  i)  on  an  unknown 
site.  Josephus  fortified  it  (ii.  Wars,  xx.  6  ;  Life,  37),  and  it  was  a  centre  of 
revolt  ngainst  the  Romans  (iv.  Wars,  i.  i).     For  Gamala,  see  p.  459. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 
GREECE  OVER  JORDAN  :  THE  DECAPOLIS 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Maps  /.,  ///.,  V.  a  fid  VI. 


GREECE  OVER  JORDAN :  THE  DECAPOLIS 

GREEK  immigration,  as  we  have  seen,  flowed  into 
Palestine  in  the  wake  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
Numbers  of  his  veterans  settled  in  Northern  Alexander 
and  Eastern  Syria,  while  the  dynasties,  founded  ^^"^  '^'"^''^^' 
by  his  generals  at  Antioch  and  in  Egypt  welcomed  the 
arrival  of  multitudes  more  of  their  countrymen.  The 
settlements  of  these  immigrants  assumed  the  characteristic 
Greek  form  of  civic  communities,  democratic  in  constitu- 
tion, and  always  aiming  at  independence,  but  often  sub- 
ject to  the  great  powers  of  the  East,  or  to  local  tyrants.^ 
On  the  coast  the  Greeks  absorbed  the  ancient  Philistine 
and  Phoenician  cities  ;  east  of  the  Jordan  they  more 
frequently  occupied  positions  which  had  not  formerly 
been  historical. 

The  oldest  Greek  settlements  in  Eastern  Palestine  were 
Pella  and  Dion,  which,  as  their  Macedonian 

Earliest 

names    suggest,   were    probably   founded    by   Greek  cities 

A  ,  ,      ,  ,  n-  o      -NT         1  11  over  Jordan. 

Alexander  s  own  soldiers.^    Nearly  as  old  were 
Philadelphia,  on  the  site  of  Rabbath-Ammon,  Gadara,  and 

^  See  pp.  588-590. 

^  The  Macedonian  Pella  was  the  birthplace  of  Alexander,  and  there  was  a 
second  Asiatic  Pella  in  Northern  Syria.     The  suggestion  of  Tuch  [QiKcstiotics 

de  Fl.  Josephi  libris  historicis,  p.  18)  that  Pella  is  Greek  for  X?n2,  equivalent 
to  the  modern  name  Fahil,  is  not  so  improbable  as  Schiirer  supposes  ^^Hist. 
ii.  I,  114),  for  it  is  impossible  to  understand  how  Fahil  could  have  risen 
from  Pella.  Dion  was  a  town  of  Macedonia,  and  Stephanus  Byzantinus 
attributes  the  Syrian  Dion  to  Alexander  himself. 

2  P 


594    ^-^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Abila,  all  of  them  grown  to  be  important  fortresses  by 
218  B.c.-^  Bosra  was  a  strong  Greek  centre  in  the  time 
of  the  Maccabees.^  Gerasa  and  Hippos  are  not  mentioned 
till  later.^  Of  none  of  these  cities  have  inscriptions  or 
coins  been  found  of  a  date  earlier  than  the  arrival  of  the 
Romans.* 

The  freedom  of  the  Greek  cities  of  Palestine  was  taken 

from  them  by  the  Jewish  princes  ;  it  was  Pompey  who 

'  restored   them   to   their  citizens,'  ^  and  they 

Greek  cities  .  .  r    1  • 

enfranchised  date    their    civic    eras    from    the    year    of  his 

by  Pompey.      ,^       .  .  -      ^  r^. 

byrian  campaign,  64-63  B.C.  Ihe  exact 
measure  of  independence  which  they  enjoyed  is  uncertain, 
and  must  have  varied  much  between  the  time  of  Pompey 

and    that   of  Trajan.      They   had   communal 
Ris?htsof  ,;,.,-. 

Greek  cities    freedom,  their  own  councils,'^  the  right  of  coin- 
under  Rome.  ,         .    ,         -  ,  ,         .    ,         - 

age,  the  right  of  asylum,  the  right  of  property 

and  administration  in  the  surrounding  districts,  the  right  of 
association  with  each  other  for  defensive  and  commercial 
purposes.  But  from  the  first  they  were  'put  under  the 
Province  of  Syria.'  '^     That  is  to  say,  their  administration 

^  Poly  bins  v.   71;  xvi.    39  ;  Josephus,  xii.   Aiitt.   iii.   3 ;    Stark,   Gaza,  p. 
381. 
2  See  p.  588. 

*  Gerasa,  when  taken  by  Alexander  Janneus.  See  p.  589.  Hippos,  when 
freed  by  Pompey. 

*  With  the  doubtful  exception  of  a  coin  of  Dion  of  89-S8  B.C.,  De  Saulcy, 
Niimis.  de  la  T.  S.  pp.  378  ff.  The  next  earliest  seems  to  be  one  of  Gadara 
of  56  B.C.     /did.  p.  294. 

^  Josephus  (xiv.  AnU.  iv.  4;  i.  IVars,  vii.  7)  mentions  Gadara,  Hippos, 
Pella,  and  Dion,  as  freed  by  Pompey,  but  Abila,  Kanata,  Kanatha,  and 
Philadelphia  also  dated  their  coins  from  64-63  B.C.,  the  so-called  Pompeian 
era.  The  era  of  Gerasa  is  uncertain.  Only  some  of  the  coins  of  Scythopolis 
are  dated  from  Pompey.  The  coins  of  Gadara  and  Pella  show  that  these 
towns  assumed  the  name  '  Pompeian '  (De  Saulcy,  Nuifiis.  de  la  T.  S.,  293, 
298,  299). 

''  See  p.  606.  ^  Josephus  as  in  note  5. 


Greece  over  Jordan  :   The  Decapolis         595 

of  politics  and  law  was  subject  to  revision  by  the  Governor, 
they  were  taxed  for  imperial  purposes,  their  coins  bore 
the  image  of  CcBsar,  they  were  liable  to  military  service,^ 
and  while  they  appear  to  have  had  no  Roman  garrison,- 
Roman  generals  used  them  for  the  quartering  of  the 
legions.^  The  position  at  this  time  of  the  Greek  cities  in 
Syria  must  not  be  compared  to  that  of  the  Greek  cities  of 
Europe.  In  Europe  and  in  Asia  the  relations  of  Greece 
and  Rome  were  very  different.  In  Europe  Rome  was  the 
conqueror,  and  might  be  regarded  as  the  oppressor,  of 
Greece  ;  in  Asia  the  Roman  power  was  the  indispensable 
ally  and  safeguard  of  the  Greeks,  and  their  interests  could 
never  be  opposed.  Therefore,  even  when  the  authority  of 
the  Empire  over  these  cities  was  vindicated  by  instances 
so  extreme  as  the  gift  by  Augustus  of  some  of  them  to 
Herod,'*  the  inhabitants  at  first  made  no  resistance,  and, 
indeed,  in  Herod  they  found  an  overlord  of  great 
Hellenic  sympathy.^ 

Confederacies  of  Greek  cities  were  common  under  both 
the  Republic  and  the  Empire,^  and  were  formed  for 
commerce  and  the  cultivation  of  the  Hellenic 

.   .^  •      ^     T  <T-i     •  .    r  The  Decapolis. 

spirit  against  alien  races.      Iheir  most  famous 

Oriental  instance  was  the  Decapolis.     The  origin  of  this 

League  is  nowhere  mentioned,  but  to  those  familiar  with 

^  Josephus,  ii.   IVars,  xviii.  19. 

-  Except  at  the  request  of  the  citizens  themselves  on  such  an  occasion,  as 
described  by  Josephus,  iv.  Wars,  vii.  3,  4. 

^  As  Vespasian  wintered  the  Legions  v.  and  x.  in  Scythopolis,  iii.  lVars,\\.  i. 

■*  On  the  east  of  Jordan,  Hippos,  Gadara ;  on  the  west,  Gaza,  Ashdod, 
Joppa,  Straton's  Tower,  were  given  to  Herod  in  30  B.C.  ;  xv.  Anit.  vii.  3  ; 
i.   Wars,  xx.  3. 

^  Gadara  alone  appears  to  have  had  difficulties  with  Herod,  xv.  Antt. 
X.  2,  3. 

••  For  Greece,  cf.  Momnisen,  Frov.  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Eng.  Edition,  i. 
264,  265. 


596   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  history  of  the  period  its  reason  will  be  obvious. 
Between  64  B.C.,  when  Pompey  constituted  the  Province 
of  Syria,  and  106  A.D.,  when  at  last  Trajan  succeeded  in 
making  the  Roman  government  effective  up  to  the  desert, 
Eastern  Palestine  remained  exposed  and  unsettled.  The 
Romans  left  the  government  to  their  Semitic  vassals, 
Zenodorus,  Herod,  and  the  Nabatean  princes,^  but  these 
made  little  of  the  work.  Bands  of  Arab  robbers  scoured 
Eastern  Palestine,  and  even  in  40  A.D.  the  settlers  in 
Hauran  were  still  driven  underground.-  Now,  it  is  this 
period  of  unsettlement,  in  which  the  forces,  both  of  order 
and  disorder,  were  Semitic,  which  is  covered  by  the  history 
An  Ami-Semi-  ^^  ^hc  Decapolis.  We  may  therefore  venture 
tic  League.  ^.^  recognisc  in  the  latter  a  League  of  Greek 
cities  against  the  various  Semitic  influences  east  and  west 
of  Jordan,  from  which  Rome  had  freed  them,  but  could 
not  yet  undertake  to  give  them  full  protection.^  As  at 
least  two  of  the  cities  of  the  League,  Hippos  and  Gadara, 
were  given  by  Augustus  to  Herod,  it  is  possible  that 
the  League  did  not  arise  till  after  Herod's  death  in  4  B.C., 
when  these  cities  regained  their  independence  ;  but  it  is 
more  probable  that  it  had  existed  since  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  so  many  of  the  towns  by  Pompey,  and  the 
necessity  which  existed  even  then  for  Greeks  to  support 
each  other  against  the  Semites.  The  religion  of  the 
Decapolis,  as  we  shall  see,  was,  in  contrast  to  that  of  other 
towns  in  Eastern  Palestine,  thoroughly  Hellenic. 

The  Decapolis,  according  to  its  name,  consisted  at  first 

^  See  especially  Josephus,  xv.  Antt.  x.  i. 

^  An  inscription  of  that  year  describes  the  population  as  living  in  caves  and 
underground  cities,  Waddington,  2329. 

*  The  name  Decapolis  does  not  occur  before  Pliny,  Josephus,  and  the 
Gospels  of  Matthew  and  Mark. 


Greece  over  Jordan :   The  Decapolis         597 

of  ten  cities.  Look  at  the  sites  of  these  ten,  trace  the 
great  roads  which  connect  them,  and  you  will  recognise 
the    military  and   commercial   policy   of  their  confcdera- 

tinll. 

The  Plain  of  Esdraclon  gives  open  passage  from  the 
coast  to  Jordan.  At  the  inland  end  of  this  passage  the 
Ten  Cities    begin,  and    are    scattered  fanwise 

.  .  .^  .  ^~  -.  The  Geo- 

along  the  mam  routes  of  traffic  across  Jordan    gia])hy  of  the 
to  the  desert.     Scythopolis  is  the  only  member 
of  the  League  west  of  Jordan,  but  she  was  indispensable  to 
her  eastern  fellows  by  her  command  of  their  communica- 
tions with  the  sea  and  with  the  Greek  cities 

r     1  T       T-  <--         1  1-        1  1       Scythopolis. 

of  the  coast.  iM-om  bcythopolis  three  roads 
cross  Jordan  and  traverse  Eastern  Palestine.  All  the 
other  original  members  of  the  Decapolis  lay  either  on 
these  roads,  or  on  the  road  they  run  to  join — the  great 
line  of  commerce  between  Damascus  and  Arabia  along  the 
border  of  the  desert.  Immediately  across  Jordan  and  at 
the  beginnings  of   the  three   roads  lay   Pella, 

^      ,  TT-  M^i  •   •  c     ^  Gadara, 

Gadara,  Hippos.  The  positions  of  these  are  Hippos, 
undisputed — Pella  on  the  southern,  Gadara  on 
the  central,  Hippos  on  the  northern  or  Damascus,  road.- 
They  stood  just  above  the  Jordan  Valley  ;  they  were  not 
twenty-five  miles  apart,  their  territories  touched,  and  thus 
together  they  commanded  the  edge  of  the  Eastern  table- 
land. Across  this  we  now  follow  the  three  roads,  to 
which  they  held  the  entrance.  The  road  from  Pella 
struck  south-east  over  the  hills  of  Gilead,  and  may  be 
traced  both  by  the  directions  of  Eusebius  and  by  some 
monuments,  to  which  we  were  able  to  add  by  the  fortunate 

^  On  Scythopolis  (Bethshan),  see  pp.  357  ff. 

2  Hippos  had  coins  with  horse,  Pegasus,  woman  holding  him  :  l)e  Saulcy. 


598    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

discovery  of  a  milestone.^  On  this  road  lay  three  other 
Dion  Gerasa  iTiembers  of  the  Decapolis — Dion,  on  an  un- 
Phiiadeiphia.   discovered  site  2  near  Pella,  and  Gerasa   and 

Philadelphia,  the  farthest  south.     The  central  road,  which 

^  This  road,  of  which  Eusebius  tells  us  in  the  Onomasticon,  arlt.  '  ApicrwO 
and  'lajSeis  TaXdad,  was  traced  by  Mr.  Merrill  past  Miryamin,  Kefr  Abil, 
Maklub,  and  Wady  Mahneh  to  Ajliin  (East  of  [ordan,  p.  357  ;  cf.  Guy  Le 
Strange,  Across  thejordati,  p.  277).  In  Kefr  Abil  we  confirmed  this  line  by 
the  discovery  of  a  Roman  milestone,  now  used  as  a  pillar  in  the  mosque,  the 
inscription  on  which  stands  as  on  the  left  hand  of  these  two  columns,  and  may 
be  restored  as  on  the  x'lsht  hand  : — 


IP 

Imperator  Caesar 

I..IVS 

M(arcus)  Aurelius  Ant 

VSAVG 

oninus  Augustus 

I      A 

[Parthicus  Maximus  ?] 

I  n  ET 

Trib(unicia)  Pot(estate)?  Co(n)s(ul)  li.  et 

Imperator  Cresar 

1 VERVS 

L(ucius)  Aurelius  Verus 

ncosib 

Trib(unicia)  Pot(estate)  n.  ?  Co(n)s(ul)  11. 

iriLi 

Divi  Antonini  Filii 

POTES 

Divi  Hadriani  Nepotes 

PARTHICI 

Divi  Trajani  Parthici  Pro- 

IVI 

-nepotes  Divi  Nervce  Ab- 

EPOTES 

-nepotes 

-  Dion  must  have  Iain  a  little  south-east  of  Pella,  according  to  Ptolemy, 
v.  15,  who  gives  the  following  degrees  of  longitude  and  latitude  :  Scythopolis, 
67°  20',  31°  55';  Pella,  67°  40',  31°  40';  Dion,  67°  30',  31°  45';  Gerasa, 
68°  15',  31°  45'.  The  position  marked  in  Mommsen's  map  is,  therefore, 
wrong.  It  is  mentioned  by  Josephus  with  Gerasa  (xiii.  Antt.  xv.  3,  for  Essa 
read  Gerasa)  and  with  Pella  (xiv.  Atitt.  iv.  4).  It  is  not  mentioned  by 
Polybius  in  the  campaign  of  Antiochus,  218  B.C.  (Pol.  v.  70).  The  words 
of  Steph.  Byzan.  are  ambiguous  :  Aro;/  .  .  .  Kriafx-a  'AXe^dvSpov  ij  Kal 
IleXXa  7?s  TO  xJdup  voaepdv.  The  reading,  7/  Kal  IleXXa,  is  not  certain,  or  it 
would  prove  the  identity  of  Pella  and  Dion.  It  is  singular  that  the  Excerpta 
ex  Graca  Notitia  Patriarchaliiiim,  quoted  by  Reland,  p.  215,  should  give, 
under  Palestina  Secunda,  the  name  of  Pella  in  the  plural,  IleXXai,  and  no 
Dion,  but  another  list,  p.  217,  has  no  Pella,  and  reckons  Dion  with  Gerasa 
in  Arabia.  Also,  Eusebius  talks  of  Pella  in  the  plural,  Ojiojuaslicojt,  art. 
AifxaO.  Reland  quotes  an  epigram  on  the  bad  water  mentioned  by  Steph. 
Byzan.  :  '  Sweet  is  the  water  of  Dion  to  drink,  but  drink  it  and  thou  losest 
thy  thirst,  and  straightway  thy  life.'  De  Saulcy  says  there  is  a  well  near 
Kefr  Abil,  called  by  the  Arabs  'Ain  el  Jarim,  or  '  The  Fatal  Well.'  Merrill 
{East  of  Jordan,  298)  suggests  'Eidun  for  Dion,  but  that  is  too  much  to  the 
north-east.     Dion  will  probably  be  found  about  Ba'un  or  'Ajlun. 


Greece  over  Joi'dan  :  The  Decapolis        599 


travelled  past  Gadara,  led  towards  Raphana,  an  original 
partner  of  the  League,  whose  site  is  unknown/  and,  after 
passing  some  cities  that  joined  the  League  Raphana  and 
later,  reached  Kanatha,  the  most  easterly  of  ^-inatha. 
the  Decapolis  at  the  foot  of  the  Jcbel  Hauran.-  Some  have 
hesitated  to  place  one  of  the  earliest  Greek  cities  so  far 
east,  but  there  were  many  Greeks  in  the  neighbouring 
Bosra  even  in  the  time  of  Judas  Maccabeus;'^  Kanatha 
had  always  been  a  place  of  importance,  and  now,  with 
Philadelphia  and  Gerasa,  it  represented  the  Decapolis 
on  the  margin  of  the  desert,  and  on  the  great  route  from 
Damascus  to  Arabia  which  ran  along  the  latter. 

Damascus. 

Damascus  itself  appears  to  have  been  an  hono- 
rary member  of  the  league.     These,  then — Scythopolis  ; 
Pella,  Dion,  Gerasa  and  Philadelphia  ;  Gadara,  Raphana 
and  Kanatha  ;  Hippos  and  Damascus — were  the  original 
ten,  from  which  the  Decapolis  received  its  name.'* 

But  to  these  ten,  others  were  added.     Ptolemy  gives  a 

^  Raphana  was  probably  the  Raphoii  of  i  Mace.  v.  37-43  (see  p.  589) 
and  of  xii.  Antt.  viii.  4,  near  Astaroth-Karnaim,  and  on  a  wady — perhaps 
the  present  Nahr  el  Awared,  a  tributary  of  the  Yarmuk. 

"  Kanatha  is  the  Kenath  of  the  Old  Testament  (Num.  xxxii.  42  ;  i  Chron. 
ii.  23  ;  see  p.  579>  n.  3),  now  called  Kanawat,  but  according  to  Wetzstein 
{Reisebericht,  p.  78)  by  the  Bedouin  always  Kanawa.  We  were,  unfor- 
tunately, turned  back  by  the  authorities  on  our  visit  to  Kanawat  and  Bosra. 
Full  accounts  of  the  great  ruins  in  Burckhardt,  Syria,  83  ;  Buckingham, 
7 ravels  among  Arab  Tribes,  242  ft".  ;  Porter,  Five  Years  in  Damascus,  ch.  xi. ; 
Merrill,  East  of  tk^  Jordan,  36-42.  Inscriptions  in  Wadd.  2329-2363  ;  VV^etz- 
stein,  Ausg.  Inschr.  (see  p.  15,  n.  i),  1 88- 193.  For  coins,  De  Saulcy  [Niimis. 
de  la  T.  S.,  400  f.).  Porter  gives  a  long  and  adequate  argument  for  the 
identification  of  Kanatha  with  Kanawat.  In  the  Peutinger  Tables  it  is  given 
as  thirty-seven  miles  (Roman)  from  Aena  (Phrena),  which  is  twenty-four  from 
Damascus.    Ko^'w^a  and  'Kivada  were  other  forms  of  the  name. 

»  See  p.  5S8. 

■*  They  form  the  earliest  list,  given  by  Pliny,  H.N.  v.  16  (iS).  Damascus 
must  have  been  unknown  to  Josephus  as  an  ordinary  member  of  the  League, 
for  he  calls  Scythopolis  the  greatest  of  the  Decapolis. 


6oo   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

list   with    eighteen    names,   leaving    out    Raphana    and 

adding   nine   others,  which  it  is  interesting  to  note  lay 

mostly  towards  Damascus,  and  away  from  the 

Abila,  T^  ,.  . 

Kanata,        Decapolitan  region  proper  in  North   Gilead.^ 

Kapitolias.      _,,  .  /-    i  i  i-   •  i 

1  he  most  important  oi  the  additions  were  three. 
Abila  lay  about  twelve  miles  east  of  Gadara,  on  a  branch 
of  the  Yarmuk.2  Kanata  is  distinguished  from  Kanatha 
by  the  different  spelling  of  its  name  on  coins  and  inscrip- 
tions, as  well  as  by  the  fact  that  an  aqueduct  which  one 
inscription  describes  as  running  to  Kanata  started  too  low 
to  have  carried  water  to  Kanatha.  On  the  strength  of 
another  inscription,  Wetzstein  has  placed  Kanata  at  El- 
Kerak,  in  the  Nukra,  but  the  neighbouring  El-Kuniyeh 
seems  to  have  some  echo  of  the  name.^  Kapitolias,  which 
from  its  Latin  name  appears  to  have  been  added  to  the 
Decapolis  only  after  Trajan  had  extended  the  Empire  to 
the  desert,^  was  either  Beit-er-Ras,  House  of  the  Head- 
land, a  {q:\^  knolls  covered  by  remains  of  Greek  carving 
near  Irbid,  or  some  site  farther  north.^     Other  towns  of 

^  See  next  page. 

^  On  a  Palmyrene  inscription  (Reland,  pp.  525  ff. ),  'A^iXy)  ttjs  AeKair6\eos 
(and  to  be  distinguished  from  the  Abila  on  the  Abana,  north-west  of  Damas- 
cus, after  which  Abilene  of  Luke  iii.  i  was  named).  It  was  first  discovered 
by  Seetzen  [Reiseit.,  i.  371  f. ),  25th  Feb.  1806,  and  the  site  and  ruins  are 
fully  described  by  Schumacher,  Abila  of  the  Decapolis  ;  cf.  Otiomasticoii,  art. 
A/3e\ ;  De  Saulcy,  Numis.  de  la  T.  S.,  308-312. 

"  See  Wadd.  2296  (the  inscription  about  the  aqueduct),  2329,  2412^-9. 
Wetzstein,  Aiisgewdhlte  InscJtr.,  183-186.  De  Saulcy,  Niiniis.  de  la  T.  S., 
399  ff. ,  plate  xxiii.,  where  on  8  is  KANATHNflN,  a  coin  of  Kanata,  but  on 
10  KANA9-X0N,  a  coin  of  Kanatha. 

*  It  dated  its  era  from  97  or  98,  the  accession  of  Trajan,  De  Saulcy,  p.  305. 

^  Beit  Ras  suits  the  position  of  Kapitolias  in  the  Peutinger  Tables ;  but 
not,  as  Schtirer  points  out  {Hist.  11.  i.  p.  106,  n.  205),  the  data  of  the 
Itinerarium  Antonini,  which  requires  a  site  farther  north.  We  found  no 
inscriptions,  but  some  beautiful  Greek  carving  at  Beit-Ras.  Beit- Ras  lies  on 
the  direct  road  from  Edrei  to  Gadara. 


Greece  over  J  or  da7i :   The  Decapolis        60 1 

this  wider  Decapolis  were  such  as  Edrei,  Bosra,  and  some 
of  their  neighbours. 

Each  of  these  cities  of  the  DecapoHs  had  not  only  its 
suburbs,  but  commanded  besides  a  large  territory,  with 
villages.^  Round  Hippos  there  was  a  Hippene,^ 
round  Gadara  a  country  of  the  Gadarenes.^  oftheDeca- 
Gadara  had  a  sea-board  on  the  Lake  of  ^°  '^' 
Galilee.  Some  of  her  coins  bear  the  image  of  a  trireme. 
We  did  not,  however,  realise  how  far  the  property  and 
influence  of  the  Greek  cities  extended  till  we  followed  the 
great  aqueduct  which  brought  water  to  Gadara  from  as 
far  east  as  Edrei.  Such  long  works  as  this  prove  that 
the  cities  of  the  Decapolis  possessed  right.s,  and  could 
exercise  authority  at  distances  even  greater  than  those 
which  separated  them  from  each  other.  The  Decapolitan 
region,  as  Pliny  calls  it,"*  tJie  borders  of  the  Decapolis,  as  it 
is  styled  in  the  Gospels,  was,  therefore,  no  mere  name,  but 
an  actual  sphere  of  property  and  effective  influence.  The 
territories  of  Pella,  Scythopolis,  Gadara  and  Hippos, 
which  adjoined  each  other,  alone  represented  a  solid  belt 
of  country  along  the  Jordan.^  East  and  north-east  from 
this  ran  the  aqueduct  of  Gadara  for  more  than  thirty 
miles  ;  all  Gilead  itself  was  at  one  time  called  the  region 
of  Gerasa.*^  If,  then,  we  omit  Damascus,  we  may  deter- 
mine the  '  region  of  the  Decapolis '  to  have  been  most  of 
the  country  south-east  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  across 
Gilead  to  the  desert,  but  Pliny's  words  about  it,  that  it 

^  Josephus,  Life,  65. 

-  Id.  iii.  Wars,  iii.  i. 

^  Mark  v.  i,  according  to  one  reading. 

''  V.  15,  Decapolita  regie, 

^  Query  :  Did  it  completely  cut  off  Perroa  from  Galilee  ? 

^  So  Jerome  in  the  fourth  century. 


6o2    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

was  interpenetrated  by  the  tetrarchies,  forbid  us  to  assume 
that  it  was  absolutely  solid.^ 

From  this  investigation  we  turn  now  to  a  description 
of  these  wonderful  Greek  cities,  their  sites,  their  buildings, 
and  the  life  which  thronged  them. 

When  the  Greeks  occupied  new  sites  their  choice  was 
mainly  determined,  of  course,  by  questions  of  commerce 
The  sites  of  ^"^  defence.  Thus  Hippos  has  no  water,  but 
the '  ten  cities,  jj^g  ^^  ^  strong  eminence  just  above  the  Lake 
of  Galilee,  where  the  great  road  breaks  north-east  to 
Damascus.  Thus  Gadara  stood  on  a  headland  above  the 
Jordan  Valley — a  broad,  fresh  stage  for  city  life,  which 
steep,  deep  slopes  on  three  sides  constituted  a  formidable 
fortress.  In  spite  of  its  feeble  spring,  this  is  so  incomparable 
a  site,  that  even  if  it  was  not  historical  before  the  Greeks, 
— which  is  so  unlikely  that  one  is  inclined  to  fix  here 
The  favourite  Ramoth-Gllcad, — the  Greeks  could  not  pos- 
Greeksite.  sibly  have  neglected  it.  But  the  favourite 
Greek  site  was  different  from  these.  It  was  a  mound  or 
ridge  by  a  shallow  stream — one  of  the  characteristic 
Peraean  brooks,  ten  to  twelve  feet  wide,  and  a  foot  deep, 
with  a  smaller  mound,  perhaps,  on  the  other  side,  and 
meadow  and  arable  land  in  the  neighbourhood.  These 
are  the  natural  features  common  to  Scythopolis,  Pella, 
Gerasa,  Philadelphia,  Abila  and  Kanatha — most  of  which 
have  besides  a  far  and  splendid  view.     The  architectural 

Thearchi-     features  were   also  similar.      There  were  the 

tecture.  usual  buildings  of  a  Greek  city  of  the  Roman 
period,  the  colonnaded  street,  the  arch,  the  forum,  the 
temple,  the  theatre,  the  bath,  the  mausoleum,  in  florid 

1  Pliny,  H.N.,  v.  i6.     See  above,  p.  540. 


Greece  over  Jordan  :   The  Decapolis         60^ 


Doric  and  Corinthian,  with  the  later  Christian  basilica 
among  them,  and  perhaps  a  martyrion,  or  martyrs'  monu- 
ment. Approach  any  of  these  sites  of  the  DecapoHs,  and 
this  is  the  order  in  which  you  are  certain  to  meet  with 
their  remains.  Ahnost  at  the  moment  at  which  your  eye 
catches  a  cluster  of  columns,  or  the  edge  of  an  amphi- 
theatre against  the  sky,  your  horses'  hoofs  will  clatter  upon 
pavement.  You  cannot  ride  any  more.  You  must  walk 
up  this  causeway,  which  the  city  laid  far  out  from  its 
gates.  You  must  feel  the  clean  tight  slabs  of  basalt,  so 
well  laid  at  first  that  most  of  them  lie  square  still.  You 
must  draw  your  hand  along  the  ruts  worn  deep  by  the 
chariot  wheels  of  fifteen,  eighteen  centuries  ago.  If  the 
road  runs  between  banks  there  will  be  tombs 
in    the   limestone,  with   basalt   lintels,  and   a      bridges, 

streets 

Roman  name  on  them  in  Greek  letters,  per- 
haps a  basalt  or  a  limestone  sarcophagus  flung  out  on  the 
road  by  some  Arab  hunter  for  treasure.  If  it  is  a  water- 
less site  like  Gadara  you  will  find  an  aqueduct  running 
with  the  road,  the  pipes  hewn  out  of  solid  basalt,  with  a 
diameter  like  our  drain-pipes,  and  fitting  to  each  other, 
as  these  do,  with  flanges.  But  if  it  be  the  more  char- 
acteristic site  by  a  stream,  you  will  come  to  a  bridge,  one 
of  those  narrow  parapetless  Roman  bridges  which  were 
the  first  to  span  the  Syrian  rivers,  and  have  had  so  few 
successors.  You  reach  the  arch,  or  heap  of  ruins,  that 
marks  the  old  gateway.  Within  is  an  open  space,  probably 
the  forum,  and  from  this  right  through  the  city  you  can 
trace  the  line  of  the  long  colonnaded  street.  Generally 
nothing  but  the  bases  of  the  columns  remain,  as  in  the 
stnct,  called  Straight,  of  Damascus,  or  as  at  Gadara  ;  but 
at  Philadelphia  ten  or  twelve  columns  still  stand  to  their 


6o4   The  Histoidcal  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

full  height,  and  in  the  famous  street  of  Gerasa  nearly  two 
hundred.  This  last  street  was  lined  by  public  and  private 
buildings,  with  very  rich  facades.  At  Gadara  you  can 
still  see  a  by-street  with  plain  vaulted  buildings,  probably 
stores  or  bazaars. 

The  best  preserved  buildings,  however,  are  the  amphi- 
theatres, the  most  beautiful  are  the  temples. 

Some  cities  of  the  Decapolis  had  each  two  amphi- 
theatres.    Those  ample,  solid  basins,  with  their  high  tiers 

Amphi-       o^  benches  for   spectators,   were   either   built 

theatres.  abovc  vaulted  chambers  that  were  used  for 
the  actors,  the  victims  and  the  wild  beasts  of  the  great 
shows  ;  or  else,  as  at  Philadelphia,  Kanatha  and  one  of  the 
Gadara  theatres,  they  rested  on  the  hollow  side  of  a  hill. 
They  faced  in  all  directions  of  north  and  west — the  Phila- 
delphian,  the  Gerasan  two,  and  one  of  Gadara  looked  due 
north,  but  the  second  Gadarene  west,  and  those  of  Kanatha 
and  Scythopolis  west  or  north-west.  The  largest  was  the 
Philadelphian,  which  held  perhaps  seven  thousand  specta- 
tors ;  the  rest  must  have  varied  from  two  to  four  thousand. 
Over  against  the  benches,  in  some  theatres,the  post-scenium 
still  rises,  a  high  wall  ornate  with  pillars,  brackets,  and 
niches.  Several  cities  contained  another  place  of  Greek 
amusement.  Where  the  stream,  after  passing  through 
The  Nau-  ^^  town,  issucs  from  the  wall,  you  see,  as  at 
machy.  Gerasa,  the  stout  banks  of  a  Naumachia,  with 
remains  of  tiers  of  benches  behind  them.  For,  even  on 
the  borders  of  the  desert  the  wave-born  Greeks  built  their 
mimic  seas,  and  fought  their  sham  sea-fights.  With  all 
these  public  stages,  most  of  the  cities  had  their  annual 
IlayKpaTia,  or  games  in  which  every  kind  of  athletic 
exercise  was  exhibited. 


Greece  over  Jordan  :   The  Decapolis        605 

Some  of  the  temples  were  very  beautiful,  as  we  may 
still  see  from  the  well-preserved  ruins  at  Kanatha  and 
Gerasa.      Oblong  in   shape,  their  central  hall 

The  temples 

was  usually  from  fifty  to  seventy  feet  by  thirty 
to  fifty.  They  were  peripteral,  with  a  double  row  of 
columns  in  the  front.  They  did  not  stand  on  the  highest 
part  of  the  town,  but  always  on  a  platform  approached  by 
stately  steps.  The  religion  of  the  Decapolis  was  thoroughly 
Greek.  In  other  towns  of  Eastern  Palestine  we  find  the 
shrines  of  many  of  the  Nabatean  gods,  either  with  their 
own  names,  or  thinly  disguised  under  those  of  their  Greek 
counterparts.  But  in  the  Decapolis  the  gods  ^,,^1  ^^e  „ods 
of  Hellas  were  supreme.  Alone  of  Semitic  °f  i^^'^^poii^- 
deities  was  Astarte  worshipped,  the  tower-crowned  Astarte, 
but  she  was  practically  Hellenic.  Each  city  worshipped 
her,  but  had  in  addition  its  own  Tu;^-?;  or  Civic  Fortune, 
sometimes  unnamed.  In  Scythopolis  the  people  were 
chiefly  devoted  to  Dionysus^  and  Astarte,  in  Pella  to  Pallas, 
in  Gadara  to  Zeus,  '  the  most  high  Zeus,'  Pallas,  Herakles 
and  Astarte,  in  Kapitolias  to  Astarte  and  Zeus,  in  Abila  to 
Herakles  and  Astarte,  in  Kanatha  to  Zeus  and  Pallas,  in 
Gerasa  to  Artemis — '  Artemis  of  the  Gerasenes,'  like '  Diana 
of  the  Ephesians' — in  Philadelphia  to  Pallas,  but  especially 
to  Herakles,  '  the  Good  Fortune  of  the  Philadelphians.'  - 

You  will  also  find  the  ruins  of  the  Ten  Cities  strewn 
with  reminiscences  of  their  political  constitution.      The 
ambiguous  character  of  their  freedom — muni-   constitution 
cipal   independence '"^  subject   to   the    revision    of  the  cities. 
and  patronage  of  the  imperial  authorities — could  not  be 

1  See  p.  363. 

-  See  the  coins  of  these  various  cities  in  De  Saulcy,  Niimis.  de  la  T.  S. 
Edrei  alone  of  cities  within  the  Decapolis  has  a  Semitic  deity,  Du-Sara,  on 
whom  see  next  chapter  :  De  Saulcy,  p.  375.  •*  See  p.  594. 


6o6    The  Histo7^ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

better  illustrated  than  by  two  fragments  which  I  turned 
up  within  a  few  feet  of  each  other  in  a  street  in  Gerasa. 
One  was  the  half  of  a  tombstone  of  a  member  of  the  City- 
Council  with  his  title  still  legible  upon  it — 

BOTAETTHS 

The  other  was  two  feet  of  basalt  carved  with  enormous 
letters,  evidently  from  an  inscription  of  honour  to  one 
of  the  emperors — 

av    TOKPAT    wp 

Fragments  like  these  may  be  found  in  almost  every  ruin 
of  the  Decapolis,  and  they  bear  as  decisive  testimony  as 
any  exhaustive  political  treatise  to  the  double  character 
of  the  Decapolitan  constitution.  Tombs  of  Bouleutai 
you  will  find  everywhere.^  I  append  one  we  routed  out 
of  the  modern  cemetery  at  Edrei,  where  it  was  doing 
duty,  upside  down,  as  the  headstone  of  a  sheikh  recently 
deceased.  It  dates  from  '  the  fourth  year  of  the  Caesars 
Marcus  and  Lucius '  (Marcus  Aurelius  and  Lucius  Verus), 
that  is,  165  A.D.^  The  Decapolis  never  forgot  Pompey — 
Gadara  and  Pella  call  themselves  Pompeian.  Nearly  all 
the  emperors  appear  on  their  coins.  Gadara  has  a  very 
full  list  from  Augustus  and  Tiberias  onward,  but  it 
was   with   the    Antonines,   130-180,  that   the   Ten   cities 

^  Josephus  gives  the  /SodXtj  of  Tiberias  at  600  members,  ii.  Wars,  xxi.  9 ; 
and  that  of  Gaza  at  500,  xiii.  Aiitt.  xiii.  3.  Those  of  ScythopoHs,  Gadara, 
and  Gerasa,  can  hardly  have  been  less. 

"  Copied  at  Edrei,  June  21,  1891,  from  a  small  slab  of  basalt : — 

TAIOCAOVKIOC 

BACCOCBOVAEV 

THCEnOHCENo 

EKT„NIAIu,NTO 

MNHMAetaKAICAP 

NMAPKOTKAIAoTKIOV. 


Greece  over  Jordan  :   The  Decapolis        607 

were  most  flourishing.  The  Antonines  made  the  great 
roads,  and  under  them  Gerasa  put  on  her  splendour. 

On  some  of  the  ruins  of  the  Decapolis  there  are  still 
visible  carven  epigrams,  reflections  on  death,  and  some 
longer  pieces  of  Greek  verse.     These  faintly 

.  Greek  litera- 

witness  to  the  great  literary  activity  of  the  Ten  ture  in  the 
Cities  at  the  beginning  of  our  era.  We  have 
already  seen  what  famous  centres  of  Hellenism  were  the 
coast  cities  in  those  days.  But  the  Decapolis  had  also  its 
personages  in  Greek  literature.  Gadara  produced  Philo- 
demus  the  Epicuraean,  a  contemporary  of  Cicero,  Meleager 
the  epigrammatist,  Menippus  the  satirist,  Theodorus  the 
rhetorician,  the  tutor  of  Tiberius,^  and  others. ^  Gerasa 
also  was  a  mother  of  great  teachers.^ 

We  may  now  touch  again  a  subject  we  touched  before 
— the  influence  of  all  this  Greek  life  on  Galilee,  and  the 
beginnings  of  Christianity.     The  Decapolis  was 

n  •    ^    •  -  •  r     r^t      •       ^  •      •  'Y\\e.  Deca- 

flounshing  in   the  time   of  Christ  s    ministry,    poiis  and 
Gadara,   with    her   temples   and   her    amphi-  °  ^ 

theatres,  with  her  art,  her  games  and  her  literature,  over- 
hung the  Lake  of  Galilee,  and  the  voyages  of  its  fisher- 
men. A  leading  Epicuraean  of  the  previous  generation,  the 
founder  of  the  Greek  anthology,  some  of  the  famous  wits 
of  the  day,  the  reigning  emperor's  tutor,  had  all  been 
bred  within  sight  of  the  homes  of  the  writers  of  the  New 
Testament.  Philodemus,  Meleager,  Menippus,  Theodorus, 
were  names  of  which  the  one  end  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee 
was  proud,  when  Matthew,  Peter,  James  and  John,  were 
working  at  the  other  end.     The  temples  of  Zeus,  Pallas, 

^  Strabo  xvii.  ii.  29  ;  cf.  Schlirer,  Hist.  ii.  i,  29. 
^  Reland,  p.  775  ;  Schiirer,  p.  104. 

*  Stephanus  Byzantinus,  under  Vepaaa,  mentions  three,  Ariston,  Kerykos 
and  Plato.     Cf.  Schiirer,  op.  cit.  pp.  29,  121. 


6o8   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  Astarte  crowned  a  height  opposite  to  that  which 
gave  its  name  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Bacchus, 
under  his  Greek  name,  ruled  the  territory  down  the 
Jordan  Valley  to  Scythopolis.  There  was  another  temple 
to  Zeus  on  the  other  side  of  Galilee,  at  Ptolemais,  almost 
within  sight  of  Nazareth.  We  cannot  believe  that  the 
two  worlds,  which  this  one  landscape  embraced,  did  not 
break  into  each  other.  The  many  roads  which  crossed 
Galilee  from  the  Decapolis  to  the  coast,  the  many  inscrip- 
tions upon  them,  the  constant  trade  between  the  fishermen 
and  the  Greek  exporters  of  their  fish,  the  very  coins — 
everywhere  thrust  Greek  upon  the  Jews  of  Galilee.  The 
Aramseic  dialect  began  now  to  be  full  of  Greek  words. 
It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  our  Lord  and  His  disciples 
did  not  know  Greek.  But,  at  least,  in  that  characteristic 
Greek  city  overhanging  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  in  the 
scholars  it  sent  forth  to  Greece  and  Rome,  we  have 
ample  proof  that  the  kingdom  of  God  came  forth  in  no 
obscure  corner,  but  in  the  very  face  of  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world. 


CHAPTER    XXIX 
HAURAN   AND    ITS   CITIES 


2  O 


For  litis  Chapter  consult  Maps  I.  and  III. 


HAURAN    AND    ITS   CITIES 

WE    pass    from    the    Decapolis   to    other    cities    of 
Eastern  Palestine,  very  different  in   origin  and 
character. 

In  the  DecapoHs,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Hfe  was  Greek. 
Rome  gave  the  shelter,  and  the  authority  of  the  Empire 
was  supreme,  but  the  arts,  letters,  manners,  The  two  civii- 
and  religion  were  of  Greece.  On  those  noble  Decapolis^ 
stages  of  life  the  seeds  of  Hellenism  had  been  ^"'^  Hauran. 
planted  for  three  hundred  years ;  as  soon  as  Pompey 
fenced  them,  there  sprang  up  the  characteristic  forms  of 
Greek  civilisation.  With  the  cities  of  Hauran  and  the 
Trachon  it  was  different.  Their  civilisation  mostly  dates 
from  a  century  later  than  that  of  the  Decapolis,  and  when 
it  appeared  it  was  not  pure  Greek,  but  a  mixture  of  Greek 
and  Semitic,  still  cast,  however,  in  the  great  moulds  of 
the  Empire.  In  the  Decapolis  Rome  sheltered  Greeks  ; 
in  those  other  cities  she  disciplined  half-Greek  Syrians 
and  wild  Arabs. 

To  understand  this  we  must  survey  Hauran  and  the 
story  of  its  slow  civilisation  first  by  Roman  vassals  and 
then  by  the  emperors  themselves. 

Hauran,  or  *  Hollow,'  ^  is  the  name  given  to  the  great 

plain  which  stretches  south  from  Hermon,  between  Jaulan 

1  See  p.  552. 

611 


6 1 2   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

and  the  Leja,  and  thence,  between  the  mountains  of 
Gilead  and  the  Jebel  Hauran,  runs  out  upon  the  Desert. 
In  a  wider  appHcation  the  name  covers  also  the  Leja 
and  all  fertile  ground  to  the  east. 

To  this  great  Plain  you  rise  from  Pharpar  ^  and  the 
lands  of  Damascus  by  a  series  of  terraces,  each  from  three 
Description  ^o  four  miles  broad.  When  you  have  shaken 
of  Hauran.  ^^  some  hills  to  the  east  you  are  out  upon 
Hauran  proper,  2000  feet  high,  and  the  ground  stretching 
level  before  you  to  the  horizon.  Hermon  shuts  off  a 
quarter  of  heaven  in  the  north-west,  but  round  all  the 
rest  of  the  circle  you  feel  only  the  openness,  the  light, 
the  equal  sweep  of  prairie  air.  Is  it  night — over  the 
free  distance  the  bells  of  the  camel-caravans  reach  your 
ears  an  hour  before  the  camels  pass.  Is  it  morning — 
the  mists  as  they  lift  have  nothing  higher  than  a  tower 
to  tear  themselves  away  from,  and  the  great  Hajj  road 
unrolls  to  the  horizon.  Is  it  noon — the  heat  does  not 
swelter  above  the  shadeless  soil,  but  the  wind  sweeps 
fresh,  as  at  sea,  with  the  swing  of  fifty  open  miles  upon 
it.  The  surface  of  the  plain  is  broken  only  by  a  mound 
or  two,  by  a  few  shallow  watercourses,  by  some  short 
outcrops  of  basalt,  and  by  villages  of  the  same  stone, 
the  level  black  line  of  their  roofs  cut  by  a  tower  or  the 
jagged  gable  of  an  old  temple.  All  else  is  a  rolling  prairie 
of  rich,  red  soil,  under  wheat,  or  lying  for  the  year  fallow 
in  pasture.  It  is  a  land  of  harvests,  and  if  you  traverse 
it  in  summer  fills  you  with  the  wonder  of  its 

Its  harvests. 

wealth.  Through  the  early  day  the  camels, 
piled  high  with  sheaves,  five  or  seven  swaying  corn-stacks 
on  a  string,  draw  in  from  the  fields  to  the  threshing-floors. 

^  The  present  Nahr  el  'Awaj  is  probably  Pharpar. 


Hauran  and  its  Cities  6 1 3 

These  lie  along  the  village  walls,  each  of  them  some 
fifty  square  yards  of  the  plain,  trodden  hard  and  fenced 
by  a  low,  dry  dyke.  The  sheaves  are  strewn  to  the  depth 
of  two  or  three  feet,  and  the  threshing-sledges,  curved 
slabs  of  wood,  studded  with  basalt  teeth,  are  dragged  up 
and  down  by  horses,  driven  by  boys  who  stand  on  the 
sledges  and  sing  as  they  plunge  over  the  billows  of 
straw.  Poor  men  have  their  smaller  crops  trodden  out 
by  donkeys  driven  in  a  narrow  circle  three  abreast, 
exactly  in  the  fashion  depicted  on  the  old  Egyptian 
monuments.  When  the  whole  mass  is  cut  and  bruised 
enough,  it  is  tossed  with  great  forks  against  the  afternoon 
wind,  the  chopped  straw  is  stored  for  fodder  in  some 
ancient  vault  that  has  kept  the  rain  out  since  the  days 
of  Agrippa  or  the  Antonines  ;  but  the  winnowed  grain 
is  packed  in  bags  and  carried  on  camels  to  the  markets 
of  Damascus  and  Acre.  The  long  lines  of  these  '  grain- 
boats '  sail  down  all  the  summer  roads;  one  evening  at 
Ghabaghib,  our  first  station  out  of  Damascus,  we  counted 
187  pass  our  tent,  and  at  the  Bridge-of-the-Daughters- 
of-Jacob,  over  Jordan  the  Way  of  the  Sea,  the  train  of 
them  has  been  known  not  to  break  all  night  through. 
Hauran  wheat  is  famous  round  the  Levant.  The  failure 
of  the  camel  carriage  to  export  an  average  crop — some 
years  part  of  it  has  to  be  left  to  rot  unreaped — reconciles 
one  to  the  invasion  of  Hauran  by  the  Acre-Damascus 
railway. 

The  fertility  of  this  Plain   is   not  more  striking  than 
its  want  of  trees.     Except  the  groves  lately    j^^  treeless- 
planted    round    the    governor's    seat    at    El-   "^^^• 
Merkez,  there  are  practically  no  trees  in  Hauran.^     The 

'  Though  on  the  Jebel  Hauran  there  are  many  oaks. 


6 14   The.  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

people,  therefore,  use  marvellously  little  timber.  The 
threshing-sledges,  the  yokes  and  ploughs,  the  long  axles 
on  which  the  giant  millstones  are  trundled  from  the 
Leja  to  Damascus,  in  every  village  a  iQ.\^  doors,  stools, 
and  boxes — that  is  all.  The  rafters,  the  ceilings,  most 
of  the  doors,  the  lattices  and  window-bars,  are  of  stone. 
The  originality  to  which  this  want  of  wood  stimulated 
the  ancient  architects  of  Hauran  will  be  noticed  further 
on,  but  here  we  may  linger  for  a  little  on  the  singular 
and  astonishing  appearance  which  the  unrelieved  use  of 
the  sombre  basalt  gives  to  towns  built  fifteen  hundred 
years  ago,  and  in  many  cases  still  standing  as  the  builder 
left  them.  One  remembers  the  weirdness  of  wandering 
as  a  child  through  the  Black  Cities  of  the  Arabian  Nights \ 
one  feels  this  weirdness  again  in  the  cities  of  Hauran. 
Under  the  strong  sun,  the  basalt  takes  on  a  sullen  sheen 
Its  black  ^^^^  polished  ebony  ;  the  low  and  level  archi- 
cities.  tecture    is    unrelieved     even    by    threads    of 

mortar,  for  the  blocks  were  cut  so  fine,  and  lie  so  heavy 
on  each  other,  that  no  cement  was  needed  for  the  build- 
ing ;  there  is,  besides,  an  utter  absence  of  trees,  bush,  ivy 
and  all  green.  This  weirdness  is  naturally  greatest  where 
the  cities,  emptied  of  their  inhabitants  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years  ago,  still  stand  tenantless.  An  awful  silence 
fills  the  sable  ruins  ;  there  is  never  a  face,  nor  a  flower,  nor 
the  flutter  of  a  robe  in  all  the  bare,  black  streets.  But 
the  fascination  is  shared  even  by  the  towns  into  which 
this  generation  has  crept  back,  and  patched  their  ruins 
with  bricks  of  last  winter's  mud.  In  these,  I  have  seen 
the  yellow  sheaves  piled  high  against  the  black  walls,  and 
the  dust  of  the  threshing-floors  rising  thick  in  the  sun- 
beams, but  the  sunshine  showed  so  pallid  and  ineffectual 


Hauran  and  its  Cities  6 1 5 

above  the  sullen  stone,  that  what  I  looked  on  seemed 
to  be,  not  the  flesh  and  blood  and  labour  of  to-day, 
but  the  phantasm  of  some  ancient  summer  afternoon 
flung-  magically  back  upon  its  desolate  and  irresponsive 
stage.  From  such  dreams  one  is  always  wakened  by 
the  fresh  Hauran  wind,  the  breath  and  quickening  of  the 
Plain. 

This  rich  and  healthy  Plain  is  dominated  by  Hermon. 
On  Hauran  you  are  never  out  of  sight  of  Hermon. 
Eighty  miles  away  he  is  still  visible,  and  Hauran  and 
even  on  the  slopes  of  the  Jebel  Hauran  the  Sermon. 
ancient  amphitheatres  were  so  arranged  that  over  the 
stage  the  spectators  might  have  a  view  of  the  great  hill. 
It  is  a  singular  companionship  of  a  noble  mountain  and 
a  noble  plain. 

'There  is  right  at  the  west  end  of  Itaille, 
Down  at  the  root  of  Vesuhis  the  cold, 
A  lusty  plain  abundant  of  vitaille, 
Where  man)^  a  tower  and  town  thou  mayest  behold 
That  founded  were  in  time  of  fathers  old, 
And  many  another  delectable  sight ; 
And  Saluces  this  noble  country  hight.' 

On  the  east  the  Plain  is  framed  by  a  long  low  line  of 
blue.  As  you  approach,  the  blue  darkens,  and  stands 
out   an    irregular   bank  of  shiny  black  rock, 

The  Leja. 

from  thirty  to  forty  feet  high,  split  by  narrow 
crevasses  as  the  edge  of  a  mud-heap  is  split  on  a  frosty  day. 
Climb  it  and  you  stand  on  the  margin  of  a  vast  mass  of  con- 
gealed lava,  three  hundred  and  fifty  square  miles  in  extent, 
which  has  flowed  out  upon  the  Plain  from  some  of  the  now 
extinct  craters  in  the  centre  of  it,  and  cooling,  has  broken 
up  into  innumerable  cracks  and   fissures.     Sometimes   it 


6i6   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

looks  like  an  ebony  glacier  with  irregular  crevasses 
Elsewhere  it  'has  the  appearance  of  the  sea,  when  in 
motion  beneath  a  dark,  cloudy  sky,  and  when  the  waves 
are  of  good  size,  but  without  any  white  crests  of  foam.'  ^ 
Here  and  there  the  eddies  of  liquid  lava  have  been  caught 
in  the  very  swirl  of  them,  or,  as  it  broke  in  large  bubbles 
and  curved  over  in  sluggish  waves,  the  viscous  mass  has 
been  fixed  for  ever  to  the  forms  of  sharp-edged  hollows 
and  caverns.  This  '  petrified  ocean '  is  without  neither 
soil  nor  fresh  water.  Springs  abound,  there  are  even 
a  few  small  lakes,  and  there  are  many  fields.  The 
ruins  of  villages  are  numerous,  and  a  number  of  the 
crevasses  have  been  artificially  widened  to  admit  the 
passage  of  roads. 

This  Leja,  this  Trachon,  not  high,  but  wild  and  very 
intricate,  almost  bridges  the  quiet  plain  between  Hermon 
and  the  Jebel  Hauran,  and  has  at  most  periods  enabled 
the  inhabitants  of  these  two  ranges  to  combine  and 
tyrannise  over  the  peaceful  populations  of  Hauran  proper 
and  Damascus. 

In  the  beginning   of  the   first   century  before   Christ 

Hermon   was   held    by   the    half-settled    Iturseans  ;    the 

Western  Hauran  was  under  the  Jew,  Alexander 

The  coming  of  ,  .,        ,       -xt    i  •     i 

the  Romans  Jauneus,  while  the  Nabateans  occupied  every- 
thing else  to  the  east,  including  Damascus,  the 
rest  of  Hauran,  and  the  Leja.-  When  the  Romans  came 
in  64  B.C.,^  besides  freeing  the  Greek  cities  of  Gaulanitis 
and  Gilead  from  the  Jews,  they  drove  the  Nabateans  to 
the  southern  edge  of  Hauran,  where  their  northernmost 

^  Merrill,  East  of  Jordan,  p.  n.  ^  ggg  gjj^j  of  last  chapter. 

^  Pompey  sent  Scaurus  with  the  first  legions  to  Damascus  in  65  B.C.,  and 
himself  followed  in  64  ;  when  he  went  to  Europe  next  year  he  left  Scaurus 
behind,  who  subdued  the  Nabateans. 


Hauran  and  its  Cities  6 1 7 

cities  continued  to  be  Bosra  and  Salkhat.^  But  the 
Romans  did  not  then  occupy  Hauran  itself.^  For  the  next 
forty  years  the  reports  are  meagre.  In  25,  Trachonitis 
and  Hauran  were  under  the  nominal  rule  of  one  Zeno- 
dorus,  who  had  also  leased  part  of  the  Ituraean  domains  on 
the  slopes  of  Hermon.^  He  did  not  protect  the  peaceful 
inhabitants  from  the  robbers  of  the  Leja,  and  they  ap- 
pealed to  Varro,  the  Governor  of  Syria.  Augustus  ordered 
Varro  to  displace  Zenodorus   by  Herod,  who 

^  ^  Herod  the 

had  already  conducted  war  in  this  region,  and     Great  in 

/-'I  1    TT-  A  •  Hauran. 

to  whom  Gadara  and  Hippos,  on  its  western 
borders,  for  the  time  belonged.^     Herod  had  great  diffi- 
culty  with   the   Arab   robbers   of    the   Leja,®   and    their 
allies   the    Nabateans.'^     It  was  only  after  he   had  put  a 

^  There  is  a  Nabatean  inscription  in  Bosra  of  the  eleventh  year  ol 
Malchns  ii.  (not  Malchus  i.  as  designated  by  Schiirer,  Hist.  div.  I.  vol.  ii. 
p.  335,  for  there  was  an  earlier  Nabatean  Malchus,  known  to  us  from  coins 
only,  whom  Schiirer  omits  from  his  lists),  i.e.  about  40  B.C.,  C.I.S.  II.  i. 
No.  174. 

^  There  was  a  Roman  governor  in  Damascus  at  least  from  44  to  42  B.C. 
(xiv.  Antt.  xi.  7  ;  xii.  i  ;  i.  Wars,  xii.  I,  2).  Somewhere  about  36  Mark 
Antony  gave  Cleopatra  '  Coele-Syria '  (see  p.  538)  and  parts  of  the  Judoean  and 
Arabian  territories  (Josephus,  xv.  Antt.  iii.  8,  iv.  1,2;  i.  Wars,  xviii.  5). 

^  xv.  Antt.  X.  I  ;  i.  Wars,  xx.  4.  That  Zenodorus  was  ruler  of  Trachon- 
itis is  expressly  said  ;  that  he  also  ruled  Auranitis  is  obvious  from  his  attempt 
to  sell  it  to  the  Nabateans  (xv.  Antt.  x.  2). 

^  In  32  B.C.  Herod  had  been  defeated  by  Nabateans  at  Kanatha  (i.  Wars, 
xix.  2  ;  at  Kana,  xv.  Antt.  v.  i),  but  had  afterwards  subdued  them. 

®  Since  30  B.C.  :  xv.  Antt.  vii.  3  ;  i.  Wars,  xx.  3. 

^  Varro  himself  had  previously  punished  them,  i.  Wars,  xx.  4. 

'  First  he  routed  the  Trachonites,  '  procuring  peace  and  quietness  for  the 
neighbouring  peoples'  (xv.  Antt.  x.  I  ;  i.  Wars,  xx.  4).  But  they,  'obliged 
to  live  quietly,  which  they  did  not  like,  and  when  they  took  pains  with  the 
ground  it  bare  but  little,'  took  advantage  of  his  absence  in  Rome  to  revolt  (xvi. 
Antt.  ix.  i).  His  troops  subdued  them,  forty  of  their  chiefs  escaping  to 
Nabatea.  On  his  return  he  slew  some  who  remained  in  Trachon,  whereupon 
the  forty  fugitives  had  a  blood-feud  against  him,  and,  in  alliance  with  the 
Nabatean?,  harassed  his  borders.  Herod  put  a  garrison  of  3000  Idumseans 
into  Trachonitis.     But,  in  taking  the  punishment  of  the  Nabateans  into  his 


6i8   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

garrison  of  3000  Idumaeans  in  Trachonitis,  and  called  a 
Jew  named  Zamaris  from  Babylonia,  and  built  for  him  in 
Batanea  fortresses  and  a  village  called  Bathyra,^  that  he 
was  successful.  Zamaris  kept  down  the  robbers  of  the 
Leja,^  'protected  Jews  coming  up  on  pilgrimage  from 
Babylon,'  and,  when  Herod  declared  freedom  from  taxes, 
'  the  land  became  full  of  people.'  ^  A  few  public  buildings 
were  erected.  A  temple  near  Kanatha  was  built,  in  the 
bulk  of  it,  by  Herod,*  and  the  ruins  still  contain  an  inscrip- 
tion recording  the  erection  of  a  statue  to  him.  This  is  the 
earliest  Greek  inscription  discovered  in  these  regions.^ 
Herod  was  evidently  the  pioneer  of  civilisation  in  Hauran. 
At  Herod's  death  in  4  B.C.,  Philip,  his  son,  received  for 
a  tetrarchy  Gaulanitis,  Batanea,  Trachonitis,  Auranitis, 
and  a  'certain  part  of  the  domain  of  Zeno- 

Philipthe 

Tetrarch,  dorus,  or  all  the  country  from  Hermon  to  the 

'  '  ^  ■  ■  3  ■  Yarmuk.^  He  was  greatly  helped  by  Jakim, 
the  son  of  Zamaris,  who  supplied  him  with  cavalry.'^  His 
just  and  gentle  reign  has  no  annals  ;  the  only  account  of 
his  kingdom  is  that  of  Strabo,  who,  writing  of  the  Trachons 
about  25  A.D.,  that  is,  when  Christ  was  beginning  to  preach 
in  Galilee,  says  that  'the  barbarians  used  to  rob  the  mer- 

own  hands,  he  displeased  Augustus.  The  Nabateans,  in  this,  '  refused  to 
pay  for  their  pastures,'  i.e.  overran  Hauran,  as  usual  every  year,  with  their 
own  flocks.     Then  he  called  Zamaris  as  above  (xvii.  Aittt.  ii.  1-3). 

1  xvii.  Antt.  ii.  I,  2.  Does  the  name  Bathyra  survive  in  Busr-(el-Hariri) 
on  the  south  margin  of  the  Leja? 

2  It  is  not  asserted  that  he  conquered  the  Leja  itself.  ^  Ibid. 

^  It  is  at  Seia,  now^  Si'a,  half  an  hour  from  Kanawat,  De  Vogiie,  Syrie 
Centrale :  Archit.  Civile  et  Religieuse,  vol.  i.  pi.  i.  It  was  to  begin  with  a 
Nabatean  building.  The  inscription  on  the  statue  of  Herod  is  given  by  Wadd. 
2364.     The  erector  was  one  Obaisatos. 

^  The  date  of  another  monument  and  inscription  at  Suweda  (Soada)  of 
Odairatos,  the  son  of  Annelus,  is  uncertain.  It  belongs  to  the  first  century 
either  before  or  after  Christ.     Wadd.  2320  ;  De  Vogiie,  as  above,  pi.  i. 

®  See  pp.  540  ff.  ''  xvii.  Antt.  ii.  1-2. 


Hattran  and  its  Cities  6 1 9 

chants  most  generally  on  the  side  of  Arabia  Felix,  but  this 
happens  less  frequently  since  the  destruction  of  robber 
bands  under  Zenodorus,  by  the  good  government  of  the 
Romans,  and  as  a  result  of  the  security  afforded  by  the 
soldiers  stationed  in  Syria.' ^  This  means  that  though 
Arab  raids  still  happened,  they  were  less  frequent.  In  the 
records  of  Christ's  ministry  we  never  hear  even  a  rumour 
of  Arabs,  but  we  see  bits  of  the  big  bulwark  which,  Strabo 
says,  was  keeping  them  away — the  Centurion,  the  Legion, 
the  superscription  of  Caesar.  Something,  however,  of  the 
difficulties  of  communication,  and  of  the  insecurity  which 
prevailed  in  spite  of  the  Romans,  may  be  felt  in  such 
parables  as  that  of  the  binding  of  the  strong  man  and 
spoiling  of  his  goods,  or  that  of  the  wicked  husbandmen 
who  slew  their  master's  heir. 

At  Philip's  death  in  34  his  tetrarchy  was  taken  back 
into  the  Province  of  Syria,  but  was  allowed  to  administer 
its  own  revenues.2     In  37  Caligula  bestowed  it 

„  .  Herod 

upon  Herod  Agrippa,"*  who  afterwards  received     Agrippa, 
the  rest  of  his  grandfather's  domains.    Agrippa's       '  "   ^  ^''' 
territory  extended  as  far  east  as  the  further  slopes  of  the 
Jebel  Hauran,  where  an  inscription  of  his  has  been  dis- 
covered.*    But  the  Nabateans,  under  King  Aretas,  still  held 
Bosra  and  Salkhat,  and  for  the  time  Damascus  ^j^^  conver- 
had   been  yielded    to   them  by  the    Romans.   ^^°"  °^  ^^^'• 
Paul  tells  us  that  when  he  came  back  to  Damascus  from 
Arabia,    three    years    after   his    conversion,    an    ethvarcJi 
under  A  retas  the  king  ^  Jield  the  city  of  the  Damascenes  ;  ^ 
and  while  we   have    imperial  coins  of  Damascus  under 

^  Strabo  xvi.  2,  §  20.  -  xviii.  Antt.  iv.  6. 

2  xviii.  Antt.  vi.  6-10;  ii.  Wa7-s,  ix.  5.     ^  At  El-j\Iushennef,  Wadd.  221 1. 

®  Aretas,  iv.,  9  B.C. -40  a.d.  "2  Cor.  xi.  32,  cf.  Acts  ix.  23  ff. 


620   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Augustus  and  Tiberius  down  to  33  A.D.,  we  have  none  ' 
under  Caligula  or  Claudius,  or  till  the  ninth  year  of  Nero 
in  63.  How  Damascus  had  come  from  the  Romans  into 
the  hands  of  Aretas  we  do  not  know  ;  ^  and  we  are 
equally  ignorant  of  the  reasons  that  led  the  Nabatean 
ethnarch  to  take  the  side  of  the  Damascus  Jews,  and 
seek,  on  their  request,  to  arrest  Paul.-  Three  years 
earlier  the  synagogues  of  Damascus  had  presumably 
sufficient  independence  and  authority  to  give  up  to  Paul 
and  his  commission  from  the  high  priest  such  Jews  as 
had  gone  over  to  Christianity.  On  that  occasion  Paul's 
journey  to  Damascus  from  Jerusalem  took  him  across 
some  part  of  Hauran.  The  Arabia  into  which  he  went 
after  his  conversion  was  not  Hauran,  as  some  imagine,^ 
but  either  the  lonely  Harra^  to  the  east  of  the  Leja  or 
Nabatea  proper, — Bosra,  Salkhat,  Petra,  and  farther  south, 
perhaps,  to  Sinai.*  Agrippa  found  Hauran  not  yet  per- 
fectly civilised.  In  a  proclamation  of  date  41  A.D.  he 
appears   to    exhort    the    inhabitants   to    leave    off    their 

^  Some  think  he  took  it  by  war  on  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops  of 
Vitellius,  when  the  death  of  Tiberius  took  place  (xviii.  Antt.  v.  3).  So 
Neander,  Planting  and  Training  of  the  Christian  Chtirch,  Eng.  Ed.  iii.  2  ; 
Porter,  Five  Years  in  Damascus,  i.  103.  But  that  the  Romans  should  let  a 
town  like  Damascus  go  by  war  seems  incredible  ;  so  Conybeare  and  Howson, 
Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  and  Schlirer  favour  the  theory  that  Caligula 
gave  Damascus  to  Aretas  {Hist.  i.  ii.  357  f).  Perhaps  when  Herod  Agrippa 
got  Philip's  tetrarchy,  it  was  felt  by  Caligula  that  the  great  foe  of  the 
Herodian  house  should  also  get  some  territory.  Aretas  had  defeated  Herod 
Antipas  a  few  years  before  (Josephus,  xviii.  Antt.  v.  3). 

2  The  Jews  of  Damascus  were  very  numerous  and  powerful  (ii.  Wars,  xx. 
2  ;  vii.  Wars,  viii.  7),  but  perhaps  there  had  been  under  Caligula's  rearrange- 
ment of  Syria  a  new  agreement  of  Aretas  with  Agrippa  and  the  Jews. 
Aretas  had  been  the  sworn  foe  of  Herod  Antipas. 

'  E.g.  Woldemar  Schmidt,  in  Herzog's  Real  Encyclopddie  (ed.  2)  xi.  364. 

*  Gal.  i.  16,  17,  cf.  On  Mount  Sinai,  iv.  25.  Whether  Paul  preached  in 
Arabia  is  very  doubtful.  It  does  not  necessarily  follow,  as  Porter  thinks, 
from  a  comparison  of  ver.  16  with  ver.  17  in  Gal.  i. 


Hauran  and  its  Cities  6  2 1 

beast-like  manner  of  life  in  caves,  and  build  themselves 
houses.^  This  proclamation  breathes  the  confidence  of 
ability  to  protect  the  Hauranites,  and  has  even  been  called 
'the  point  of  departure  for  the  architectural  history  of  the 
country.'  ^  Certain  it  is  that  whereas  from  before  this  date 
we  possess  only  two  Greek  inscriptions^  from  Hauran, 
among  many  in  the  Nabatean  language,  Greek  inscrip- 
tions now  rapidly  multiply,  and  we  have  numerous  records 
in  stone  of  the  building  of  public  edifices. 

Agrippa  died  in  44,  in  the  fashion  described  in  the  Book 
of  Acts,*  and  as  his  son  Agrippa  was  just  seventeen,  the 
Romans    resumed    the    administration   of   all 

Interval  of 

Palestine  by  a  Procurator  under  the  Governor  Roman  rule, 

.       1    A.D.  44-50. 

of  Syria.^  The  only  inscription  from  this  period 
is  in  Nabatean,  at  Hebran,  south  of  Kanatha,  'of  the 
seventh  year  of  Claudius  Csesar.'  ^  From  this  we  ascer- 
tain that  the  boundary  between  the  Roman  province  (or 
the  kingdom  of  Agrippa)  and  the  Nabatean  kingdom,  ran 
south  of  Hebran,  but  north  of  Bosra  and  Salkhat,  for  these 
latter  were  cities  of  the  Nabatean  kings.'' 

^  Wadd.  2329a,  an  inscription  in  Kanatha.  But  the  inscription  is  frag- 
mentary, and  the  above  interpretation  doubtful.  In  any  case,  the  proclama- 
tion cannot  have  been  meant  for  Kanatha,  which  had  been  a  free  city  with 
coins  since  Pompey's  time. 

^  De  Vogtie,  Aixhitecture  Civile  et  Religieiise  de  la  Syrie  Centrale. 

^  The  one  about  the  statue  to  Herod,  see  p.  6i8  ;  and  another  on  a  monu- 
ment at  Suweda,  ancient  Soada,  south  of  Kanawat,  which  is  also  given  in 
Nabatean.  Wadd.  2320;  De  Vogue,  op.  cit.  PI.  i.;  C.I.S.,  Pars  11.  torn.  i. 
No.  162,  where  it  is  ascribed,  because  of  the  form  of  the  Nabatean  letters,  to 
the  first  century  before  Christ. 

*  xii.  20  ff.,  cf.  Josephus,  xix.  Aittt.  viii.  2  ;  ii.  Wars,  xi.  6, 

^  xix.  Anti.  ix.  i,  2  ;  ii.  Wars,  xi.  6. 

®  nO'ipDH^p!'  V'2'^  T\l^  ;  in  C.I.S.,  Pars  11.  torn.  i.  No.  170.  It  records 
the  erection  of  a  portal  by  Maliku,  a  priest  of  the  goddess  Allat. 

''  For  Bosra,  see  above,  p.  617,  n.  i.  In  Salkhat  there  are  two  inscriptions: 
one  of  the  seventeenth  year  of  Malchus  in.  (not  Malchus  11.  as  designated 
by  Schiirer,  see  p.  617  «.  i),  i.e.  about  65  A.D.  ;  the  other  of  the  twenty-fifth 
year  of  Rab'el,  i.e.  95  or  96  a.d. 


62  2   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

In  50,  Agrippa  II.  received  from  Claudius  the  kingdom 
of  Chalcis  in  the  Lebanon,^  and  in  53  the  old  tetrarchies 
Agrippa  II  °^  Philip  and  Lysanias,^  so  that  once  more 
A.D.  50-100.  Hauran  came  under  a  Jewish  prince.  He  was 
the  very  worst  of  his  line.  This  enthusiast  for  Nero,  this 
trifler  with  Paul,  this  pander  to  his  sister's  shame,  this 
purveyor  of  Roman  rejoicings  at  his  people's  overthrow, 
this  royal  camp-follower,  this  ape  whom  Titus  led  about, 
has  caused  himself  to  be  styled  in  his  Hauran  inscriptions 
the  Great  King,  Lover  of  Caesar,  Pious,  Lover  of  Rome.^ 
He  called  his  first  capital  after  Nero,*  through  sore  humilia- 
tion he  held  to  all  the  Flavian  emperors,  and  it  is  perhaps 
a  sign  of  the  same  subserviency  that  the  only  inscription 
which  has  been  discovered  recognising  the  three  months' 
reign  of  Otho  is  one  upon  Agrippa's  domains  in  Hauran.^ 
There  are  still  extant  several  buildings  from  the  second 

^  The  kingdom  of  his  uncle  Herod  ;  xx.  Antt.  v.  2  ;  ii.   Wars,  xii.  i. 
^  The  latter  included  Abila  and  the  Lebanon  domains  of  Varus,  which 
stretched  far  north  (xx.  Antt.  vii.  i,  note  the  curious  order  ;  ii.  Wars,  xii.  8) ; 
afterwards  some  parts  of  Galilee  and  Persea  were  added  (xx.  Antt.  viii.  4  ; 
ii.  Wars,  xiii.  2). 

^  jSactXeiis  iieyas,  (piKoKalaap,  eicre^ris  Kal  (pi\opw/j.aios  ;  on  an  inscription  at 
Si'a,  near  Kanatha,  Waddington,  2365. 
*  See  p.  475- 

^  Discovered  by  us  on  the  top  of  a  straw-store  at  Tuffas,  two  hours  north- 
west of  El-Muzeirib,  on  19th  June  1891  (see  Critical  Review,  ii.  59).  On  the 
death  of  Nero  in  68,  Agrippa  li.,  and  Titus,  the  latter  sent  by  Vespasian,  set 
out  from  Syria  to  Rome  to  salute  Galba,  but  heard  on  the  way  of  Galba's 
death.  Agrippa  went  on  to  salute  Otho,  but  Titus  returned  to  his  father  with 
the  news,  and  Vespasian's  legions,  then  on  the  east  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee, 
within  a  few  hours  of  Tuffas,  took  the  oath  to  Otho.  Here  is  the  inscription 
carved  in  curious  oblong  letters ;  the  £l  being  shaped  like  the  Hebrew 
letter  shin : 

L  APTHEPTHEATTOKRAI  .... 
CTOTMAPKOTOeiiNOEEfiTHI  .... 
A0$  IHEAIOrENOTEHATHPTI  .  . 
ETO  NETN  AIEATEI^AAIEIOIK.  . 
EK  EIAEXAPINT .     . 


Hauran  and  its  Cities  623 

Agrippa's  reign,  and  numerous  inscriptions  :  for  instance, 
the  latest  portions  of  the  temple  at  Si'a,^  a  temple  at  Es- 
Sunamein,  on  the  Hajj  road  south  of  Damascus,  the 
inscriptions  there  and  elsewhere.^  Agrippa  died  in  100, 
and  his  territories  appear  again  to  have  fallen  within  the 
Roman  Province  of  Syria. 

During  this  period  the  Nabateans  continued  to  surround 
Agrippa's  territories  on  the  south,  where  they  still  occupied 
Bosra  and  Salkhat ;  ^  and  on  the  east,  where   ^[^^  ^^^^ 
they  held  a  post  even  as  far  north  as  Admedera,   ^™\^[!,^^  °^ 
the  first  station  on  the  road  from  Damascus  to    ^■'°-  ^°°- 
Palmyra,^ — Damascus  itself  had  been   taken  back  from 
them  by  the  Romans  in  the  reign  of  Nero,^ — but  in  106 
A.D.,  Trajan,  by  the  hands  of  Cornelius  Palma,  Governor 
of  Syria,  brought  the  whole  Nabatean  kingdom  into  the 

^  See  p.  618,  n.  4. 

-  We  found  the  slab  with  the  inscription  at  Es-Sunamein,  serving  as  the 
end  of  the  village  sheikh's  dust-box.  I  have  reproduced  it  in  the  Critical 
Kcvie'tV,  ii.  (1892),  p.  56.  I  find  it  was  previously  given  vci  Z.D.P.V.  v\\. 
(1S84),  pp.  121  f.  It  records  the  dedication  of  a  portal,  with  little  victories, 
images,  and  little  lions,  to  '  Zeus  the  Lord.'  The  double  date,  '  the  thirty- 
seventh  year,  which  is  also  the  thirty-second  of  King  Agrippa,'  I  explained  in 
the  Critical  Review  by  the  difference  between  Agrippa's  right  to  succeed  his 
father  in  44-45  A.D.  and  his  actual  accession  to  a  kingdom  in  49-50.  Schiirer 
{Hist.,  Div.  I.  vol.  ii.  pp.  194  f.)  refers  the  smaller  number  to  an  era  of 
Agrippa  II.  beginning  in  61,  and  the  greater  to  a  supposed  era  beginning  five 
years  earlier  in  56.  For  this  latter  there  is  no  evidence  whatever.  I  think 
De  Saulcy  is  right  in  interpreting  the  former  as  an  era,  not  of  Agrippa 
himself  but  of  Cresarea-Philippi.  I  therefore  hold  to  the  interpretation  which 
I  gave  in  the  Critical  Review. 

^  There  are  two  Nabatean  inscriptions  at  Salkhat  :  one  of  the  seventeenth 
year  of  Malchus  in.  (not  Malchus  II.,  as  Schurer  designates  him,  see 
p.  617),  i.e.  about  65  A.D.  ;  one  of  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  Rab'el,  i.e. 
95  or  96  A.D.  ;  besides  a  third  of  uncertain  date  ;  C.I.S.  Pars  II.  torn.  I. 
No.  182-184. 

■*  The  present  Dmer  or  Maksurah,  C.I.S.,  Pars  11.  torn.  i.  No.  161.  This 
inscription  also  belongs  to  the  reign  of  Rab'el,  71-106  A.D. :  of.  Wadd.  2562  g. 

5  53-68  A.D. 


624   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Empire,  and  created  out  of  it  the  new  Province  of  Arabia, 
with  Bosra  as  the  capital.^ 

This  was  the  most  decisive  step  in  the  history  of 
Hauran.  The  fertile  plain  was  no  longer  the  ragged  edge 
Civilisation  of  °^  civilisation,  but  an  inner  province  of  the 
Hauran.  Empire.     Between  the  wilderness  and  herself 

there  was  organised  another  Roman  province,  and  the 
wonderful  Roman  frontier.  Therefore,  with  106  A.D.,  the 
often  checked  civilisation  of  Hauran  may  be  said  to  have 
got  fairly  under  way.  The  Romans  immediately  instituted 
public  works.  The  aqueduct  already  mentioned  from 
El-Afine  to  Kanata  was  built  by  Cornelius  Palma  him- 
self,^ and  other  great  aqueducts  and  reservoirs  are  probably 
to  be  assigned  to  about  the  same  date.  During  the 
second  and  third  centuries,  basilicas,  temples,  theatres," 
multiplied  in  the  old  cities :  but  a  still  more  evident  sign 
of  prosperity  was  the  rise  of  a  multitude  of  villages  to  the 
rank  of  cities.  Those  ruins,  so  numerous,  that  as  you 
travel  across  Hauran  you  are  never  out  of  sight  of  some  of 
them,  so  strongly  built  of  their  basalt,  that  from  many  it 
seems  as  though  their  inhabitants  had  fled  but  yesterday 
— these  are  the  shells  of  the  Roman  peace.  In  some 
primeval  tranquillity  of  man,  *  giant  cities  of  Bashan '  may 
have  risen,  as  is  alleged,*  on  this  margin  of  the  desert ;  but 
if  so,  these  are  not  their  ruins.  With  the  exception  of  a 
stray  inscription  to  a  H^ebrew  Herod  and  Agrippa,  to  a 
Nabatean  Malchus  or  Rab'el,  themselves  but  Roman 
vassals,  there  is  in   Hauran  no  written  record  of  a  life 

'  Dio  Cassius,  Ixviii.  14  :  IldA/tas  r^s  Supias  Hpx^v  Tr}v  'ApajSiav  ttjv 
TTpbs  TTj  HeTpa  e%eipaicraTo,  Kai  'Pw^ot'w;'  inr-tjKOOv  eTTOtijcraro.  Cf.  Rcland ; 
Mommsen,  Frov.  of  the  Roman  Empire,  il. 

^  Waddington,  2296-97  ;  cf.  2301,  2308.  ^  Like  the  one  in  Bosra. 

*  Porter,  Giatit  Cities  of  Bashan.     Cf.  Wetzstein,  Reisebericht,  pp.  81  f. 


Hauran  and  its  Cities  625 

earlier  than  the  beginning  of  the  Empire  by  Trajan. 
Thereafter  inscriptions  abound.  The  letters  are  Greek, 
the  religion  of  which  they  speak  may  be  Syrian,  but  the 
civil  power  they  acknowledge  is  Rome.  The  Legions  have 
left  their  stamp  everywhere.  In  Bashan  there  is  scarcely  a 
single  ruin  but  it  bears  upon  it  the  name  of  at  least  one  of 
the  Emperors.  As  in  Decapolis,  so  in  Hauran,  j^^  Roman 
you  stumble  on  bits  of  basalt  with  some  of  '^rame. 
the  syllables  of  Autokrator  upon  them :  the  letters  are 
Greek,  but  they  only  translate  Imperator.  The  gods  of 
the  temples  bear  Semitic  names,  or  have  received  their 
Greek  equivalents,  Zeus,  Herakles,  Athene,  Tyche,  and 
so  forth,  but  it  is  a  Valens,  a  Caius,  a  Publius,  a  Lucilius, 
an  Ulpius,  who  are  inscribed  as  benefactors  of  the  temples. 
It  is  Flavii,  Bassi  and  Cornelii  who  are  burled  around 
them.  Where  two  generations  are  named  together,  the 
name  of  the  father  is  nearly  always  Semitic,  the  name  of 
the  son  is  very  frequently  Latin,  and  never  Greek — a 
curious  proof  of  the  Latinising  of  the  natives.  *  Farewell, 
O  Rufus,  son  of  Ath  !  veteran,  aged  75  ;'^  'of  Valens,  son 
of  Aziz;' 2  'Bassos,  son  of  Zabd;'^  'Hadrian,  son  of 
Malekh.'*  Seldom  is  this  reversed,  but  we  found  a  tomb- 
stone, near  Sheikh  Miskin  on  the  Hajj  road,  with  the  name 
'  Authos,  son  of  Priscus.'  ^     Sometimes  it  is  a  native  of 

^  ^dpcr(e)  'Toucp^  'AOov  overpavds  eT{G>v)oi,  Wadd.  2039. 

^  OvaKevTOi  'A^i^ov,  Wadd.  2046. 

8  /3ao-(ros  Za^dov,  Wadd.  2070  i. 

*  At  Khurbet  el  Araje,  Wadd.  2196.  'ASpiavov  roO  koI  Hoaidov  Ma\4xov 
iOvdpxov,  ffTparrjyou  vo/idBcov  to  /jlvij/xlov  irCiv  \^'.  'A58os  doeX^os  eruv  ktj. 
Contemporary  with  the  Emperor  Hadrian.     Cf.  1982,  2070  1.,  2079,  2174. 

^  AvOos  UpeitTKov  tTt}}  Critical  Review,  ii.  (1892).  On  the  road  to  El 
Merkez,  a  little  way  out  of  Sheikh  Miskin,  there  is  a  cairn  which  the  slab 
with  this  inscription  surmounts.  The  shepherds  afiirmed  it  to  be  the  tomb  of 
Sheikh  Mohammad  el  'Ajamy  ;  cf.  Schumacher,  Across  Jordan,  p.  118,  for  a 
Sheikh  el  'Ajamy,  wliose  tomb  is  shown  at  El  'Ajamy  on  the  Upper  Yarmuk, 

2  R 


626   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Germany  or  of  Gaul,  drafted  here  for  service  on  the 
Arabian  border,  whose  epitaph  tells  you  how  he  died 
thinking  of  his  fatherland  :  ' .  .  .  born  (?)  and  a  lover  of  his 
country,  having  come  from  Germany  and  died  in  the 
Agrippian  troop,  was  taken  back  to  his  own.'  ^ 

It  is,  however,  in  her  roads,  and  the  records  of  her 
The  Roman  frontier,  that  there  survives  fullest  proof  of 
roads.  Rome's   power.     The   Roman   roads  diverged 

from  Damascus — one  skirting  Hermon  to  Caesarea-Philippi ; 
two  crossing  Gaulanitis  to  the  Jordan  bridges  above  and 
below  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  one  striking  south  through  the 
Leja  to  Bosra,  and  perhaps  one  down  the  east  of  the 
Leja  to  Kanatha.  At  right  angles  to  these  ran  others, 
especially  the  Great  Eastern  road  from  Gadara  to  Edrei, 
Bosra,  Sakha,  and  thence  boldly  into  the  desert  in  the 
direction  of  the  Persian  Gulf^  'The  Rasif,  or  Roman 
road  in  these  lands,  is  twelve  paces  broad,  and  is  divided 
by  five  rows  of  upright  stones  into  three  divisions  of  equal 
breadth,  the  two  outer  rows  are  bordered  by  a  ditch  more 
or  less  deep,  according  to  the  level.'^  When  we  pass  out 
on  to  the  borders  of  the  desert,  we  see  how  marvellous 
was  the  line  of  the  Roman  defence.  In  the  border  villages, 
The  Roman  ^"^  ^7  ^^  roads  as  they  plunge  into  the  waste 
frontier.  towards  Palmyra  or  the  Euphrates,  marked 
by  rows  of  black  stones,  on  some  hillock  with  no  view 
but  the  desert,  you  read  the  official  marks  of  the  Legions, 
and  the  rough  ^r^?^// which  the  soldiers  scribbled  through 

^  .  .  .  j'eros  Kai  <pL\6waTpLS  dirb  Vep/xavlas  avi\9o3v  Kot  iv  eHXr)  ' Aypnririavi] 
dirodavuiiv)  els  to.  idia  jnedrjvix&'nj  Wadd.  2 1 21. 

2  It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the  exact  dates  of  these.  The  roads  through 
the  Leja  may  be  as  old  as  the  conquest  of  the  Leja  by  Varro  in  23  B.C. 
See  p.  617,  n.  6.     The  most  of  the  milestones  are  of  the  Antonines. 

^  Wetzstein,  Reisebericht,  73. 


Hauran  mid  its  Cities  627 

the  tedium  of  their  desert  watch.^  Even  more  conspicuous 
is  the  skill  by  which  Rome  won  the  nomads  to  her  service 
and  fastened  them  down  in  defence  of  the  border  they 
had  otherwise  fretted  and  broken.  On  chiefs  of  tribes 
were  bestowed  the  titles  Phylarch,  Ethnarch,  and  Strategus 
of  the  Nomads.2 

Behind  this  Roman  bulwark  there  grew  up  a  curious,  a 
unique  civilisation  talking  Greek,  imitating  Rome,  but  at 
heart  Semitic.  We  have  seen  how  overrun  Tiie  Semitic 
with  Arabs  Hauran  was  before  Rome  came,  elements. 
how  her  earliest  civilisers  were  themselves  Semites, — a 
Herod,  a  Philip,  an  Agrippa,  *  three  thousand  Idumasans,' 
a  colony  of '  Babylonian  Jews;'  and  we  have  seen  how  an 
Arab  civilisation,  the  Nabatean,  grew  up  to  the  south  of 
Hauran.  Nor  did  the  Semitic  influences  upon  Hauran 
cease  when  Rome  made  her  frontiers  secure  to  the  east  of 
it.  The  nomads  continued  to  immigrate  in  even  greater 
numbers  than  before,  yet  they  came  not  to  rob  but 
to  settle,  and  to  add  their  own  weight  to  the  resistance 
which  Rome  offered  to  the  tides  of  the  desert.  Of  these 
immigrations  the  most  distinguished  was  that  of  the  Beni 
Jafn,  who  left  Yemen  in  104  A.D.,  and  towards  the  close 
of  the  century  settled  within  the  borders  of  the  Empire.^ 
But  there  were  many  who  came  with  and  after  the 
Beni  Jafn,  and  the  border  garrisons  seem  to  have  been 

1  At  Namara,  for  instance,  a  good  day's  journey  from  the  frontier  villages 
of  Hauran  into  the  desert.  Among  the  graffiti  Qaifxas  Zid/xov  and  Tdddos 
8pofjL€5a.pi(o)s,  Wadd.  2267  (on  the  dromedary  troops,  cf.  Wadd.  1946,  2424): 
the  names  of  the  Second  and  Third  Legions.     Id.  2279,  2281. 

-  'Phylarch,'  Wadd.  2404,  etc.;  for  '  Ethnarch,'  '  Strategus  of  the  nomads,' 
see  inscription  on  p.  625,  n.  4.  ;  also  Wadd.  21 12,  at  El- Hit,  where  Wadding- 
ton  thinks  he  found  evidence  of  the  presence  of  an  Augustan  band.  Acts  xxvii. 
I  ;  the  fragment  is  aweiprjs  Av.  .  .  .  Cf.  Ewing,  70 :  Oey  Ai'/xoy  ;  Wadd. 
2441  ;  Ewing,  88.  *  See  p.  9  ;  cf.  Wadd.  21 10,  2413  n. 


62  8    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

largely  composed  of  Arab  soldiers.  The  Greek  and  Latin 
elements  of  the  population,  as  in  other  Oriental  provinces, 
did  not  endure.  Hauran  must  have  remained  essentially- 
Semitic.  The  Greek  of  the  inscriptions  is  Greek  written  by- 
Semites  :  containing  many  blunders  and  barbarisms,  and 
betraying  the  influence  of  the  Semitic  phonology.^  We 
have  seen  that  in  the  families  which  rose  to  the  position 
of  having  an  ornate  tomb,  or  of  being  able  to  dedicate  a 
temple,  the  name  of  the  father  was  nearly  always  Semitic 
— a  contrast  to  the  monuments  of  the  Decapolis,  in  which 
Semitic  names  are  very  infrequent  Again,  in  the 
temples  of  Hauran,  the  names  of  the  gods  are  not  alto- 
gether Greek,  as  in  the  Decapolis,  but  we  meet  with 
Baalsamtn,  Du  Sara,  Athi,  Aziz,  Aumos,  Allat,  Vagrah, 
The  Nabatean  ^^*^  ^^^  curious  Theandrites.  Herod's  temple 
deities.  ^^  gjg^c  jg  dedicated  to  Baalsamin,  Baal  of  the 

Heavens,^  probably  the  Zeus  Megistos  Keraunios  of  the 
Greek  inscriptions.  Du  Sara  was  a  Sun-God,  giver  of 
fertility  and  joy,  whom  the  Greeks  identified  with 
Dionysus.^  His  symbols,  the  vine  and  the  wine-cup,  still 
ornament  some  lintels  in  many  of  the  villages  of  Hauran  ; 
the  chief  centres  of  his  worship  were  Petra  and  El-Hejr 
in  Central  Arabia,  but  it  is  a  proof  of  the  distance  to  which 
Nabatean  commerce  extended  that  we  find  two  tablets 

^  Wadd.  2081,  cevvoTov  DJE-' :  2090,  ttovtuv  iravTcov  :  cf.  1916,  2049-53,  ^tc. 

'  pOEJ'yn  contracted  from  pnEi6l?2,  C./.S.,  Pars  11.  torn.  i.  No.  163. 

^  In  Nabatean,  N~lEi>n,  C.J.S.,  Pars  11.  torn.  I.  No.  157  at  Puteoli ;  160 
at  Rome ;  190  Umm  el  Jemal,  south  of  Bosra,  frequently  in  the  monuments 
of  El-Hejr,  197  ff.  In  Greek  Aovaapris,  Wadd.  2023  ;  2312  with  the  epithet 
dvlKrjTos,  also  applied  to"H\tos  in  2392.  Cf.  the  proper  name  Aovaapios,  1916. 
Epiphanius  {Haeres. )  describes  the  feast  at  Petra  at  the  winter  solstice  in  honour 
of  Du  Sara  and  his  virgin  mother.  See  also  Tertullian,  Apolog.  24.  In 
Z.D.M.G.  xiv.  465,  the  name  is  derived  from  Sheraa,  a  chain  of  mountains 
in  Arabia,  as  if  'Lord  of  Shera.'  Cf.  Baethgen,  Beitrage  zur  Semitischen 
Religionsgeschichie,  pp.  94-97. 


Hauran  and  its  Cities         '  629 

dedicated  to  him  at  Rome  and  Putcoli.  Allatvvas'thc 
mother  of  the  gods,  the  goddess  of  Salkhat,'  which  city 
was  specially  sacred  to  her.^  Aziz,  the  Mighty,  Athi  and 
Aumos  were  deities  of  lower  rank.^  The  Greek  name 
of  Theandrios  or  Theandrites  is  as  puzzling  as  it  is 
interesting :  the  Semitic  original  is  unknown.^ 

In  the  architecture  of  Hauran  native  elements  are  no 
less  conspicuous.  We  have  no  more  the  mere  imitations 
of  the  great  Greek  orders  which  we  found  in 

.  The  archi- 

the  Decapolis;  but  the  lines  and  the  ornaments  tecture  of 
of  building  are  determined  both  by  the  habits 
of  Oriental  art  and  by  the  nature  of  the  peculiar  material 
with  which  Hauran  architects  had  to  work.  The  oldest 
building  of  all,  the  temple  at  Sia',*  was  erected  by  Herod, 
a  prince  already  under  the  influence  of  Hellenic  culture ; 
but  its  unmistakable  Greek  lines  are  strongly  modified 
by  Eastern  ideas.^  De  Vogue  thinks  that  in  its  ruins  we 
can  see  some  reflection  of  the  plan  of  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem,  which  was  not  only  contemporary  but  likewise 

^  C./. 5".,  Pars  II.  torn.  i.  Nos.  170,  171,  182,  183,  185;  182  runs:  'this  is 
the  house  which  Ruhu,  son  of  Malkhu,  son  of  Akhlibu,  son  of  Ruhu,  built  to 

Allat,  their  goddess  (DHnripN,  a  contradiction  of  Renan's  theory  that  the 
expression  'goddess'  was  impossible  in  Semitic).  In  185  Allat  is  associated 
with  Vagrah.     Cf.  Baethgen,  Beitrdge,  etc.,  98,  99. 

^  Aziz,  Wadd.  2314  (Suweida),  identified  on  an  inscription  in  Dacia  with 
Apollo ;  Athi  on  an  inscription  at  Egla  (EI  Ageilat)  Batanea,  Wadd.  2209 ; 
Gei^  airrtS;'  'E(?dy  worshipped  at  Palmyra  under  the  name  TlJ?-  To  Ai'^uos  are 
inscriptions  at  Deir  el  Leben,  Wadd.  2392,  2394,  on  a  large  temple  of  320 
A.D.,  on  the  latter  of  which  he  seems  identified  with  the  Sun.  Cf.  2463  and 
2464  (Hauran  in  Trachonitis),  on  the  latter  of  which  the  name  Aumos  belongs 
to  a  Christian  man. 

*  Ged^-Spios,  Wadd.  1905  ;  QeavdpiTTis,  2046,  2481.  *  See  p.  618. 

^  On  the  principles  of  the  architecture  of  Hauran,  the  chief  authority  is 
De  Vogiie,  Sj'n'e  Centrak,  Architecture  Civile  et  Religieuse  ;  see  especially, 
for  the  information  which  forms  the  basis  of  the  above  paragrap'is,  the 
Avant  Prof  OS  of  this  excellent  work. 


630   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

the  work   of   Herod.      It  was,   however,  the   peculiarity 

of  their  building  materials  which  chiefly  influenced  the 

ancient  architects  of  Hauran.     Their  country,  as  we  have 

seen,   was    practically   treeless ;    they  had   to 

Its  originality.  ... 

construct  entirely  of  stone,  and  the  basalt 
which  was  at  their  disposal  not  only  served  for  masonry, 
but  allowed  itself  to  be  cut  into  beams,  slabs,  lattice-work, 
and  other  shapes  for  which  wood  was  usually  employed. 
Consequently  the  building  of  Hauran  developed  a  style 
of  its  own.  This  took  the  form  of  a  series  of  parallel 
arches,  across  which  were  laid  long  beams  or  rafters  of 
basalt,^  and  again  on  these  the  slabs  of  the  ceiling.  Some 
of  these  roofs  are  still  solid  ;  above  the  rafters  of  others 
there  are  scattered  a  number  of  big  stones,  so  that  you 
have  a  trellis  roof  through  which  the  sunshine  is  fretted 
on  the  floor  beneath.^  But  frequently  the  roof  took  the 
form  of  the  cupola,  and  in  this  you  see  the  '  first  essays 
towards  the  Byzantine  style  of  architecture,  and  especially 
towards  putting  the  cupola  on  a  square  by  means  of 
spherical  pendentives.'  ^  The  parallel  arches,  straining 
outwards,  required  some  exterior  bulwark  ;  and,  conse- 
quently, along  many  of  the  public  buildings  of  Hauran 
you  find  solid  buttresses  running  the  entire  length  of  the 
walls,  and  built  in  the  form  of  steps  and  stairs.  They 
are  the  favourite  benches  of  the  village  school,  when  the 
sun  is  not  too  fierce ;  the  bright  children,  scattered  over 
these  ancient  buttresses,  compose  a  charming  picture. 
The  elevation  of  the  buildings  is  generally  low,  but  never 

^  De  Vogue  describes  the  slabs  as  laid  directly  on  the  arches,  but  in  the 
specimens  I  examined  the  long  basalt  beams  intervene. 

2  As  in  the  Menzil  at  Es-Sunamein  and  elsewhere. 

'  De  Vogiie  as  above.  The  oldest  extant  specimen  of  the  cupola  is 
Umm  ez  Zeitun,  and  it  dates  from  282  A.  D. 


Hauran  and  its  Cities  63 1 

mean  ;  the  decorations  few  and  simple.  The  basalt  al- 
lowed less  carving  than  the  limestone  of  Gilead,  but  it 
has  preserved  the  inscriptions  better.  It  is  a  wonder  to 
see  the  carved  stone  lattices  of  the  windows,  and  the 
great  stone  doors  turning  on  their  stone  hinges. 

Most  of  the  public  buildings  appear  to  have  risen  in 
the  times  of  the  Antonines  and  of  Septimius  Scverus, — 
Temples,  Basilicas,  Theatres,  and  also  those  round  towers, 
which  all  civilisations  have  found  indispensable  in  war- 
fare with  the  Arabs. ^ 

But  there  had  entered  Hauran  a  new  force,  which  was 
gradually  to  change  both  the  religion  and  the  art  of  the  land. 

The  early  course  of  Christianity  across  Jordan  is  ex- 
tremely obscure.  In  Western  and  Northern  Syria,  in 
Mesopotamia,   and    in   Persia,  we   have  com- 

Early 

paratively  full   accounts   of   the   organisation    Christianity 

_  „  ,  .  o       .  1     '"  Hauran. 

01  the  Church,  but  m  Eastern  byria  and 
Arabia  her  early  history  is  almost  a  blank.  We  know 
of  our  Lord's  ministry  in  Decapolis  and  Persea,-  and  of 
Paul's  conversion  and  the  little  band  of  disciples  at 
Damascus,^  and  of  Paul's  possible  ministry  in  Arabia.'* 
The  Christians  of  Jerusalem  fled  from  the  siege  to  Pella,^ 
where  it  is  said  that  the  Ebionite  heresy  first  developed,® 
and  the  Christianity  of  Eastern  Palestine  is  described 
more  than  once  as  of  this  Judaistic  kind — enforcing  the 
Mosaic  law,  affirming  the  human  birth  of  Christ,  abjuring 

^  Cf.  Uzziah's  use  of  towers,  2  Chron.  xxvi.  9,  10 ;  and  that  of  the  Turks 
to-day  along  the  Hajj  road.     Doughty,  Arabia  Deserta,  i.  passim. 

2  Mark  v.  I  and  x.  i.  ®  Acts  ix. ;  2  Cor.  xi. 

*  Gal.  i.  15-17  :  But  when  it  was  the  good  pleasure  of  God .  .  .  to  reveal 
His  Son  in  me,  that  I  might  preach  him  atnong  the  Gentiles  ,  .  .  i  went 
away  into  Arabia,  and  again  1  rettirned  unto  Damascus. 

^  Eusebius,  H.E.  iii.  5.     There  are  no  remains  of  this  date. 

^  Epiphanius,  adv.  Hares,  xxx.  2. 


632    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Paul  as  a  heretic,  and  looking  for  the  return  of  Christ  to 
found  an  earthly  kingdom.^  But  of  all  this  there  are  no 
remains,  not  even  at  Pella,  and  the  earliest  record  we 
have  of  an  active  Christianity  in  Hauran  is  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  monastery  in  180  A.D.  by  'Amr  I.,  a  Ghas- 
sanide  prince.  About  218  A.D.  Origen  paid  two  visits  to 
the  east  of  Jordan  ;  the  first  on  the  call  of  the  Governor 
of  Arabia  to  explain  to  him  his  doctrine,^  and  the  second 
to  an  Arabian  Synod,  at  which  he  overthrew 

Oris'en  and 

the  Synod  the  hcrcsy  of  Beryllus,  the  Bishop  of  Bosra, 
and  propounded  the  eternal  generation  of  the 
Son.^  From  Schuhba  in  Trachonitis  came  the  first 
Christian  emperor.  Philip,  the  Arabian,  was  the  son  of  a 
Bedawee  chief,  was  at  least  a  nominal  Christian,  and 
occupied  the  Imperial  throne  from  244  to  249.*  The 
Christians  of  these  regions  must  have  suffered,  like  those 
of  the  rest  of  Syria,  in  the  persecutions  under 

The  persecu-    .^.  ix^.i-k  i-- 

tions  and  Dccius  and  Dioclctian,"  and  it  is  perhaps  owing 
to  the  latter  emperor's  order  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  all  Christian  buildings  that  we  have  so  very  few 
Christian  remains  earlier  than  his  day.  Traces  of  these 
great  persecutions  are  still  eloquent  in  Hauran — one 
cryptogram  for  Christ,  the  IX®T2  of  the  catacombs  ;  ^ 
another,  XMF,  found  only  here,  and  probably  meaning, 

^  East  of  the  Dead  Sea  were  gathered  the  sect  of  the  Elkesaites — another 
heretical  sect,  taking  their  name  from  ''DD  PTI,  their  title  for  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  was  also  given  to  their  sacred  book.  They  practised  many  Mosaic 
and  Essene  rites,  and  worshipped  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God ;  Epiphanius, 
HcBi-.  xix.,  XXX.,  liii. ;  Eusebius,  H.E.  vi.  38;  Theodoret,  Fabularum  H<zre- 
ticarum,  vii. 

2  Eusebius,  H.E.  vi.  19.  3  /^/^_  yj^  20,  33,  37. 

4  Ibid.  vi.  34 ;  of.  Uhlhorn,  Herz.  RealEncyc.  xi.  pp.  613  ff,;  cf.Wadd.  2071  ff. 

^  Decius,  249-251  A.D. ;  Diocletian  began  persecution  in  303, 

®  Wadd.  2362.     Wadd.  2465,  Ew.  82,  has  the  monogram  J*. 


Hauran  and  its  Cities  633 

'  Christ  born  of  Mary ; '  ^  a  possible  allusion  to  Mary 
herself,  masked  in  heathen  terms,  ^oTvia  Nvfj,(f)r]  ;^  above 
all,  many  bits  of  basalt  with  the  words,  or  syllables 
of  the  words,  Martyr  and  Martyrs'  Monument.^  These 
latter  meet  you  in  almost  every  village,  rendering  its  very 
dust  dear  to  your  Christian  heart.  Even  the  nomads 
raised  monuments  to  the  martyrs.*  One  longer  inscrip- 
tion runs :  '  For  the  Repose  of  the  Martyrs  who  have 
fallen  asleep;'^  it  reminds  us  of  Stephen.  The  erection  of 
such  memorials  proves  a  day  in  which  Christianity  was  able 
to  show  itself  in  public,  and  there  are  others  that  record 
its  gradual  triumph  over  paganism.  Amid  the  names 
of  Zeus,  Athene,  Du  Sara,  Allat,  which  still  Triumph  of 
stamp  the  ruins,  you  read  that  of  our  Lord  '^^"^'• 
carven  with  equal  boldness  in  the  face  of  the  sun,  as 
thus — 

or  a  proclamation  of  the  '  One  God  ;  '^  or  the  triumphant 
words —  "^ 

+  XPIS  +  TOS   NIKA  + 

On  these  follow  longer  inscriptions  :  prayers,  dedications, 
quotations  from  Scripture,  epitaphs.  At  Umm  el  Jemal : 
'  Prayer  of  Numerianus  (and)  John — From  the  womb  of 
(our)  mother  our  God  art  thou  ;  forsake  us  not'  ^  At 
Salkhat,  in  wretched  Greek,  scribbled  in  an  obscure 
chamber,  'Aouos,  Moses,  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins.'^     In 

^  XpicTTOs  iK  Mdpiaj  yevvrjOels,  Wadd.  1936,  2145.  ^  Wadd.  2145. 

^  MapT^piov.  As  these  'martyries'  were  used  as  chapels,  and  many 
churches  contained  martyries,  the  words  e/c/c\7jo"/a  and  /laprijpiov  are  some- 
times used  by  early  ecclesiastical  writers  as  equivalent. 

*  e.g.  Wadd.  2464,  where  the  Maprvpiov  was  raised  by  a  Phylarch. 

*  'Ttt^P  TTJs  avairav(xi<j3s  tQiv  KeKoifiivwv  Maprijpuiv,  Wadd.  1920. 

*  Ets  9  .  .  Wadd.  2057,  cf.  2066.  ''  Wadd.  2253. 
8  Ps.  xxi.  II  ;  Wadd.  2068.                                         ^  Wadd.  2010. 


634   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

several  places,  '  Help,  O  Christ'  On  the  lintel  of  a  house 
at  Tuffas  :  '  Jesus  Christ  be  the  shelter  and  defence  of  all 
the  family  of  the  house,  and  bless  their  incoming  and 
their  outgoing.'^  Sometimes  the  intercession  of  the  saints 
is  sought,  as  at  Sahwet  El  Khudr,  in  the  Chapel  of  St. 
George :  '  Holy  George,  receive :  also  Scholasticius,  the 
offerer,  do  thou  guard  by  thy  prayers,  and  for  Comes,  his 
brother,  ask  repose.' ^  It  is  remarkable  that  the  quota- 
tions from  Scripture  are  from  the  Old  Testament  in  the 
LXX.  version,  but  sometimes,  as  in  the  prayer  quoted, 
they  are  adapted  for  application  to  Christ.  '  This  is  the 
gate  of  the  Lord,  the  righteous  shall  come  in  by  it'  ^  *  If 
the  Lord  watch  not  the  city,  in  vain  doth  the  watchman 
keep  awake.'*  On  the  portal  of  the  Church  of  St.  John, 
now  the  Great  Mosque  in  Damascus :  '  Thy  kingdom, 
O  Christ,  is  an  everlasting  kingdom,  and  thy  dominion 
endureth  from  generation  to  generation,'^ 

Pagan  and  Christian   inscriptions  contrast  in  two  im- 
portant respects.     The  Pagans  parade  in  every  case  the 
Contrast  of    names  of  the  donors,  offerers  and  dedicators. 
c'hfrstian'^     With  a  modesty,  too  strange  to  the  liberality 
inscriptions,   ^f  |-j^g  modern   Church,  the  Christian  inscrip- 
tions of  Hauran  nearly  always  omit  the  names,  as  thus : 
'  Remember,  Lord,  the  founder,  of  whom  Thou  knowest 
the   name.'  ^      But   the   most   striking   contrast  is  found 

1  As  I  copied  it,  the  inscription  reads  a  little  differently  (see  Critical 
Review,  ii.  p.  60)  from  Schumacher's  copy.  Across  the  Jordati,  p.  21.  The 
quotations  are  from  the  Psalms  :  Ps.  iii.  4 ;  cxxi.     Cf.  Wadd.  2068,  2537. 

2  Wadd.  1 98 1,  cf.  2126.  3  ps_  cxviii.  20;  Wadd.  196 1. 
*  Ps.  cxxvii.  6  ;  Wadd.  2390,  cf.  2501. 

^  The  unused  portal  above  the  roof  of  the  silversmiths'  bazaar.  The  verse 
is  from  Psalm  cxlv. 

^  Wadd.  2087,  etc.  Cf.  the  inscription  on  the  font  at  Bethlehem.  But 
see  2249  for  an  instance  of  the  name  being  given. 


Hauran  and  its  Cities  635 

among  the  tombs.  The  heathen  epitaphs,  whether  in 
DecapoHs  or  Hauran,  are  almost  without  hope.  The 
Romans,  in  lawyer-like  form,  record  only  the  name,  the 
rank,  the  age  of  the  dead,  and  how  the  tomb  was  built.^ 
The  Greeks  indulge  in  sentiment  and  reflec- 

Epitaphs. 

tion,  but  are  equally  poor  in  hope.  '  After 
.all  things  a  tomb'  is  inscribed  on  the  lintel  of  a  tomb  at 
Irbid.2  Kat  %v,  Even  thou,  is  a  common  memento  mori. 
The  Greek  heart  breaks  on  the  stone  ;  the  farewell  is 
final.  'Thou  hast  finished'  is  a  common  epitaph,  'Titus, 
son  of  Malchus,  farewell,  thou  hast  finished  untimely, 
(thy)  years  twelve,  farewell  I'^  Or  the  dead  are  told  that 
theirs  is  the  inevitable  fate,  there  is  nobody  immortal.  '  Be 
of  cheer,  Helen,  dear  child,  no  one  is  immortal.  I  have 
laid  thee  beside  thy  mother,  Gavaia.  .  .  .'  *  This  ouSei? 
cWdvaTo<i  is  very  common.  Perhaps  its  most  striking 
appearance  is  on  a  tomb  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  over 
against  the  Church  of  the  Resurrection.^  Now,  in  contrast 
to  this  Pagan  hopelessness,  there  is  in  the  Christian 
epitaphs  no  exultation  indeed,  nor  any  vision  of  another 
life,  but  a  quiet  confidence.  The  dead  are  spoken  of  as 
'  they  that  sleep;'  the  living  pray  for  their  repose,  or  offer 

^  See  the  inscription  we  discovered  at  Gadara,  p.  461  of  this  volume. 
^  Merrill   (Easi  of  Jordan,  293)   reads  Mera    Y[.a.vTa.  T(oCro) ;    Clermont- 
Ganneau  {Reaceil,  etc.,  17)  reads  T(d0os).      The  latter  is  correct;  my  copy 
shows  a  as  the  second  letter  of  the  word  ;  the  rest  is  defaced. 

'  On  a  pillar  now  in  a  stable  in  Gadara.      Critical  Review,  ii.  61  ;  cf. 
CIcrmont-Ganneau,  Recueil,  p.  21. 

•*  Wadd.  2032,  cf.  19S6 ;  e7rai;trero  Ai'^o?.      But  2247  {a^t-o.  OeoTs)  and  2322 
express  hope.    Cf.  also  2432,  Ewing,  112. 

^  Wadd.  iS97cf.  2429.    There  is  a  beautiful  epitaph  given  by  Wadd.  2322: 
Tttj'os  e'xe'  o'E)  /J-OLKap,  iroKvrjpaTe,  die  "Za^lve 

Koi  f^s  lis  7?pws  Kal  viKVS  oCiK  eY^rou. 
evdeit  0'  ws  ?ti  ^uiv  inrb  oivopeai.  adts  iv  Tv/x{pois) 
i/'i'Xai  yap  ^d'CTiv  Tuv  d7av  eiiae^aUoi'. 


636   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


a  prayer  for  themselves,  as  :  '  May  the  soul  of  Gerontius 
be  saved.'  ^ 

Other  notable  expressions  of  faith  and  feeling  are  :  '  O 
Christ,  our  God  ;'  *  The  Peace  of  Christ  be  to  all ;'  '  Peace 
be  to  all  men  +  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  of  the  Lord.'  ^ 

The  Church  of  Eastern  Palestine  was  organised  in  the 
second  and  third  centuries,  for  in  the  beginning  of  the. 
Dioceses  of  fourth  its  bishops  and  metropolitans  were 
the  Church.  ,~^2iX\y,  as  is  witnessed  by  the  Acts  of  the 
Councils  of  Nice  and  Chalcedon.  At  the  former  Damascus 
had  a  metropolitan  with  seven  suffragans.  Bosra  was  the 
ecclesiastical,  as  well  as  the  civil,  metropolis  of  Hauran. 
The  diocese  had  its  own  theology,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
Origen's  time,  and  its  synods.  The  town  was  a  great 
centre  of  trade,  only  second  in  importance  to  Damascus 
— a  tradition  preserved  in  its  present  name  of  Old 
Damascus.      It  was  full  of  monks. 

The  buildings  of  the  earliest  Christianity  were  destroyed, 

as  we  have  seen,  under  Diocletian.     They  were  probably 

the  martyries,  little  chapels  built  over  a  martyr's  grave. 

After    the   victory   over    paganism    the    first 

and  other  churches  were  the  basilicas  of  the  Antonines 
ings.  ^^^  other  emperors,  and  then  imitations  of 
these.  But  during  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  there 
developed  the  style  known  as  Byzantine, — the  dome 
above  the  square  chamber.  The  two  finest  churches 
were  that  of  St.  George  at  Zorava,  of  date  5 14,^  and  the 
cathedral  at  Bosra  of  512.     St.  George's  Church  consists 


^  Wadd.  2492.  2  Wadd.  2500,  2061,  2519. 

3  Probably  on  site  of  a  temple  to  Theandrites,  Wadd.  2569.  The  relics 
of  St.  George  appear  to  have  been  taken  to  Zorava  in  the  beginning  of  the 
6th  century,  Wadd.  2498. 


Hauran  and  its  Cities  637 

of  two  concentric  octagons  in  a  square  that  is  crowned 
by  drum  and  cupola  ;  against  the  eastern  face  of  the 
exterior  octagon  is  built  the  choir,  terminating  in  an 
apse  ;  each  angle  of  the  square  outside  the  octagons  holds 
a  smaller  apse  ;  on  the  west  side  there  are  three  portals  ; 
on  the  north  and  south  one  each.  It  is  this  church  which 
bears  the  famous  inscription  beginning,  '  The  assembly  of 
demons  has  become  the  house  of  the  Lord.'  The  cathedral 
of  Bosra  was  four-square  and  crowned  by  a  dome,  with  a 
longish  apse  to  the  east.  An  inscription  in  Bosra  ^  gives 
a  form  of  the  Greek  original  of  church,  KvptuKov,  '  The 
Lord's  house,'  KvpiKov,  which  is  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
same  as  the  forms  used  at  the  other  end  of  Christendom, 
kerk  and  kzrk. 


The  latest  Christian  buildings  in  Hauran  are  of  the 
middle  of  the  seventh  century.  In  the  beginning  of  that 
century  the  camel-driver,  Mohammed,  used,  overthrow  of 
on  his  journeys  from  Arabia,  to  visit  Bosra,  Christianity. 
and  it  is  said  that  he  learned  there,  from  the  monk  Hariri, 
all  he  ever  knew  of  Christianity.^  Mohammed  died  in  632. 
By  634  the  hosts  whom  his  doctrines  inspired  had  overrun 
Hauran,  defeated  on  the  Yarmuk  the  Christian  army,  and 
by  635  they  had  taken  Damascus.  Subsequent  to  this 
we  have  only  two  Christian  buildings  in  Hauran,  the 
monastery  at  Deir  Eyoub,  with  the  date  641,3  and  a 
church  of  St.  George  at  El-Kufr,  652.*  The  Christianity 
and  the  Hellenism  of  the  province  rapidly  dwindled  to 
the  merest  fragments  of  their  former  selves.     The  vitality 

1  Wadd.  1920.  2   Yaha  i.  64;  the  Mar6sid  i.  425,  441. 

*  Wadd.  2413.  ^  Evv.  153,  665  a.d.  in  Wadd.  1997. 

^  Ewing,  150,  seems  to  describe  the  building  of  a  church  at  El-Kufr  in  720. 


638   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

of  Hauran  was  blasted.  We  have  no  buildings  worthy  of 
the  name  from  the  Mohammedan  period  ;  the  structures 
of  former  days  were  mutilated  and  abused  ;  the  theatre 
at  Bosra  was  made  a  castle  ;  the  cathedrals  and  churches 
were  turned  to  mosques.  Other  barbarians  have  under- 
stood, interpreted,  developed  the  civilisations  which  they 
conquered,  and  so  did  the  Arabs  themselves  in  other 
parts  of  the  world.  But  in  the  desert-bordering  Hauran, 
on  which  ruder  and  ruder  swarms  beat  up  as  the 
centuries  went  on,  there  was  only  abuse,  neglect,  decay  ; 
and  the  sole  conservative  elements,  which  have  ensured 
that  at  least  we  should  have  some  ruins  of  the  ancient 
days,  have  been,  on  the  one  side,  the  hardness  and  weight 
of  the  Hauran  basalt,  and,  on  the  other  side,  the  stupid 
and  superstitious  reverence  of  the  Arabs  for  inscriptions, 
which  they  have  treasured  and  employed — generally  on 
end,  or  wrong-side  up, — as  tombstones,  and  as  charms 
over  the  doors  of  their  houses.  Hauran  has  continued 
fertile  and  full  of  villages  down  to  the  present  day,  but 
the  villages  have  known  no  security,  have  sheltered  no 
stable  populations  ;  and  the  land  has  been  scoured  by 
nomads.^  The  great  towns  have  become  shells  in  which 
little  clans  huddle  for  shelter.  In  Bosra  to-day  there  are 
not  more  than  forty  families. 

The  Crusaders  made  two  expeditions  to  Bosra ;  and 
they  besieged  Damascus.  But  none  of  these  adventures 
effected  anything,  and  though  their  coins  have  been  found 
in  Hauran,  they  got  no  settlement  there.^ 

^  See  pp.  526-529,  2  On  the  Crusaders  over  Jordan,  see  p.  537. 


CHAPTER  XXX 
DAMASCUS 


639 


For  this  Chapter  consult  Maps  I.  and  IL 


DAMASCUS 

"I~^AMASCUS — never  claimed  for  Israel  and  never 
-L ^  under  a  Hebrew  prince  ^ — lies  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  Holy  Land,  and  therefore  of  our  present  survey. 
But  she  has  always  been  the  goal  of  all  the  roads  of  the 
lands  we  have  traversed,  the  dream  and  envy  of  their 
peoples.  We  have  met  her  fame  everywhere.  She  has 
seen  the  rise,  felt  the  effect,  and  survived  the  passage  of 
all  the  forces  which  have  strewn  Syria  with  ruins.  There 
is  not  a  fallen  city  we  have  visited  but  Damascus  was  old 
when  it  was  built,  and  still  flourishes  long  after  it  has 
perished.  Amid  the  growth  and  decay  of  the  races, 
civilisations  and  religions,  which  have  thronged  Syria  for 
four  thousand  years,  Damascus  has  remained  the  one 
perennially  great  Syrian  city.  Before  we  cease  our  survey, 
therefore,  she  demands  our  homage,  with  such  apprecia- 
tion as  we  may  attempt  of  the  secret  of  her  eternal  youth. 
Beyond  appreciation  we  need  not  go :  we  have  already 
recorded  the  main  facts  of  her  history.^ 

Damascus  lies  about  seventy  miles  from  the  sea-board, 
upon  the  east  of  Anti-Lebanon,  and  close  in  to  the  foot 

^  For  an  apparent  exception  see  p.  582. 

-  For  her  roads  to  the  sea,  her  place  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
far  East,  see  chap.  xx.  ;  for  her  connection  with  Israel,  chap,  xxvii.  ;  for  her 
relations  to  Eastern  Palestine,  chap.  xxv.  ;  for  her  place  in  the  Decapolis, 
chap,  xxviii.  ;  for  her  history  under  Rome  and  the  Nabateans,  chap.  xxix. 

2S 


642    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

of  the  hills.  You  reach  her  from  Beyrout  by  a  strong 
carriage-road  which  first  climbs  over  Lebanon  into  '  Hollow 
Situation  of  Syria,'  and  then  by  the  easy  passes  of  Anti- 
Damascus.  Lebanon  crosses  into  the  valley  of  the  Abana, 
with  which  it  issues  upon  a  great  plain  2300  feet  above 
the  sea,  and  in  extent  thirty  miles  by  ten.  This  plain  is 
bounded  on  the  west  by  Hermon,  on  the  north  by  a  low 
eastern  offshoot  of  Anti-Lebanon,  on  the  east  by  a  row 
of  extinct  volcanoes,  on  the  south  by  the  river  Awaj, 
probably  the  Pharpar,  and  by  another  low  range  of  hills 
that  shuts  off  Hauran. 

Like  the  slopes  of  Anti-Lebanon  behind  it,  this  plain 
would  be  as  desert  as  all  the  rest  of  the  country  to  the 
Euphrates  were  it  not  for  the  river  Abana. 
The  Abana  bursts  full  born  from  the  heart 
of  Anti-Lebanon,  runs  a  course  of  ten  miles  in  a  narrow 
gorge,  and  from  the  mouth  of  this  flings  itself  abroad 
in  seven  streams.  After  watering  the  greater  part  of 
the  plain,  it  dies  away  in  a  large  marsh.  Over  the 
green  of  this  marsh  you  see  from  Damascus  at  sunset 
low  purple  hills  twenty-five  miles  off.  They  are  the  edge 
of  the  Eastern  desert  :  beyond  them  there  is  nothing  but 
a  rolling  waste,  and  the  long  ways  to  Palmyra  and 
Baghdad. 

It  is  an  astonishing  site  for  what  is  said  to  be  the  oldest, 
and  is  certainly  the  most  enduring,  city  of  the  world. 
The  haven  of  ■^'^^  it  is  Utterly  incapable  of  defence ;  it  is 
the  desert,  remote  from  the  sea  and  the  great  natural 
lines  of  commerce.  From  the  coast  of  Syria  it  is  doubly 
barred  by  those  ranges  of  snow-capped  mountains  whose 
populations  enjoy  more  tempting  prospects  to  the  north 
and  west.     But  look  east  and  you  understand  Damascus. 


Damascus  643 


You  would  as  soon  think  of  questioning  the  site  of  New 
York  or  of  Sydney  or  of  San  Francisco.  Damascus  is 
a  great  harbour  of  refuge  upon  the  earliest  sea  man  ever 
learned  to  navigate.  It  is  because  there  is  nothing  but 
desert  beyond,  or  immediately  behind  this  site  ;  because 
this  river,  the  Abana,  instead  of  wasting  her  waters  on  a 
slight  extension  of  the  fringe  of  fertile  Syria,  saves  them  in 
her  narrow  gorge  till  she  can  fling  them  well  out  upon  the 
desert,  and  there,  instead  of  slowly  expending  them  on 
the  doubtful  possibilities  of  a  province,  lavishes  all  her 
life  at  once  in  the  creation  of  a  single  great  city,  and 
straightway  dies  in  face  of  the  desert — it  is  because  of  all 
this  that  Damascus,  so  remote  and  so  defenceless,  has 
endured  throughout  human  history,  and  must  endure. 
Nineveh,  Babylon  and  Memphis  easily  conquered  her — 
she  probably  preceded  them,  and  she  has  outlived  them. 
She  has  been  twice  supplanted — by  Antioch,  and  she 
has  seen  Antioch  decay,  by  Baghdad,  and  Baghdad  is 
forgotten.  She  has  been  many  times  sacked,  and  twice 
at  least  the  effective  classes  of  her  population  have  been 
swept  into  captivity,  but  this  has  not  broken  the  chain  of 
her  history.  She  was  once  capital  of  the  world  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Bay  of  Bengal,^  but  the  vast  empire 
went  from  her  and  the  city  continued  to  flourish  as  before. 
Standing  on  the  utmost  edge  of  fertility,  on  the  shore 
of  the  much-voyaged  desert,  Damascus  is  indispensable 
alike  to  civilisation  and  to  the  nomads.  Moreover,  she  is 
the  city  of  the  Mediterranean  world,  which  lies  nearest 
to  the  far  East,  and  Islam  has  made  her  the  western  port 
for  Mecca. 

The  plain  on  which  Damascus  lies  is  called  the  Ghutah. 

^  Under  the  Omeiyade  Khalifs  in  the  end  of  the  seventh  century. 


644   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Too  high  to  be  marshy,  the  Ghutah  is  shot  all  over  by  the 

cold,  rapid  waters  of  the  Abana,  which  do  an  equal  service 

in  bringing  life,  and  in  carrying  away  corrup- 

The  Ghutah.      . 

tion.  Verdure  sprmgs  profusely  everywhere. 
As  you  look  down  from  one  of  the  bare  heights  to  the  north 
you  see  some  hundred  and  fifty  square  miles  of  green — 
thronging  and  billowy  as  the  sea,  with  the  white  compact 
city  rising  from  it  like  an  island.  There  is  apparently 
all  the  lavishness  of  a  virgin  forest,  but  when  you  get 
down  among  it  you  find  neither  rankness  nor  jungle.  The 
cultivated  ground  is  extensive,  most  of  it  in  orchards  and 
plantations,  but  there  are  also  flower  gardens,  parks  and 
corn-fields  of  considerable  size — none,  however,  so  spread 
as  to  disturb  the  distant  impression  of  close  forest. 

It  is  best  to  enter  Damascus  in  summer,  because  then 
everything  predisposes  you  for  her  charms.  You  come 
The  approach  down  off  the  most  barren  flanks  of  Anti- 
to  Damascus.  Lebanon.  You  cross  the  plateau  of  Sahra-ed- 
Dimas,  six  shadeless  miles  that  stretch  themselves,  with 
the  elasticity  of  all  Syrian  plains  in  haze,  till  you  almost 
fancy  you  are  upon  some  enchanted  ground  rolling  out 
with  you  as  you  travel.  But  at  last  the  road  begins  to 
sink,  and  you  come  with  it  into  a  deep  rut,  into  which  all 
the  heat  and  glare  of  the  broad  miles  behind  seems 
to  be  compressed.  The  air  is  still,  the  rocks  blistered, 
the  road  deep  in  dust,  when  suddenly  a  bank  of  foliage 
bursts  into  view,  with  a  white  verandah  above  it.  The 
road  turns  a  corner  ;  you  are  in  shadow,  on  a  bridge,  in 
a  breeze.  Another  turn  and  you  have  streams  on  both 
sides,  a  burn  gurgling  through  bushes  on  the  left,  on  the 
right  not  one  stream  but  one  banked  over  the  other,  and 
the   wind    in   the    poplars    above.      You    break    into    the 


Damascus  645 

richer  valley  of  the  Abana  itself.  You  pass  between 
orchards  of  figs  and  orchards  of  apricots.  For  hedges 
there  are  the  briar  rose,  and  for  a  canopy  the  The  gorge  of 
walnut.  Pomegranate  blossoms  glow  through  the  Abana. 
the  shade ;  vine-boughs  trail  across  the  briar ;  a  little 
waterfall  breaks  on  the  edge  of  the  road.  To  the  left  the 
river,  thirty  feet  of  dark  green  water  with  white  curls 
upon  it,  shoots  down  a  steep,  smooth  bed.  And  all  this 
water  and  leafage  are  so  lavish  that  the  broken  mud-walls 
and  slovenly  houses  have  no  power  to  vex  the  eye,  exult- 
ing in  the  contrast  of  the  valley  with  the  bare  brown  hills 
that  shut  it  in.  For  two  miles  more  you  ride  between 
trees,  through  a  village,  over  a  bridge,  between  high  banks 
of  gardens — road  and  river  together,  flecked  with  light. 
You  come  between  two  streams,  one  washing  the  roots  of 
aged  fig-trees,  past  a  quarry  where  the  desert  sinks  in  cliff 
upon  the  road,  beside  an  old  aqueduct  whose  Roman 
masonry  trails  with  brambles.  The  gorge  narrows,  there 
is  room  only  for  the  aqueduct  and  river,  with  the  road 
between,  but  just  as  the  cliff  comes  near  enough  to  over- 
hang the  road  the  hills  turn  sharply  away,  and  the  relieved 
river  slackens  and  sprawls  between  islands.  We  are  out 
on  the  plain  ;  there  are  gardens  and  meadows ;  men  and 
boys,  horses,  asses  and  geese  loaf  upon  the  grass  and  the 
shingle  ;  great  orchards,  with  many  busy  people  gathering 
apricots,  stretch  on  either  side.  Still,  there  is  no  city 
visible.  A  mile  more  of  orchards,  then  through  the 
walnuts  a  crescent  gleams,  and  the  minaret  it  crowns. 
You  come  out  on  a  grassy  level,  cut  by  the  river  into  two 
parks.  There  is  a  five-arched  bridge  across  it,  and  over 
the  bridge  minarets  and  low  white  domes.  You  pass 
some  public  gardens,  cross  the  river,  ride  between  it  and 


646   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

another  garden  with  lofty  trees,  and  halt  in  a  great  square, 
with  the  serai,  the  courts  of  justice,  the  prison,  and  the 
barracks  of  the  principal  garrison  of  Syria.  The  river 
has  disappeared  under  the  square  by  three  tunnels,  from 
which  it  passes  in  lesser  conduits  and  pipes  to  every  house 
and  court  in  the  city.  By  the  northern  walls  a  branch 
breaks  again  into  the  open  ;  here  the  chiefest  gardens  are 
spread  beneath  walnuts  and  poplars,  and  the  water  rushes 
by  them  swift  and  cold  from  its  confinement. 

With  the  long  gardens  of  Damascus,  the  paradise  of  the 
Arab  world,  you  must  take  the  Bazaars  of  Damascus,  in 

The  bazaars     which    many   Other    worlds    meet    the    Arab. 

of  Damascus.  Travellers,  it  is  true,  are  often  disappointed  with 
both  gardens  and  bazaars.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  we 
Westerns  should  feel  the  charm  of  the  waters  of  Damascus 
as  the  desert  Bedawee  does.  But  if  any  one  confesses 
the  bazaars  dull,  he  has  neither  eye  for  colour  nor  wit  to 
read  the  city's  destiny  in  the  faces  she  has  gathered  to 
them  from  Nubia  to  the  Caucasus.  It  is  a  perpetual 
banquet  of  colour.  There  are  blots  upon  it — Manchester 
prints,  cheap  Paris  clocks,  second-hand  carriages  from 
Beyrout,  the  dusty  streets  themselves,  where  they  break 
into  the  open  glare.  But  in  the  long  dusk  tunnels,  shot 
by  solid  shafts  of  light,  all  else  is  beautiful — the  old 
walnut-wood,  the  brown  tobacco  bales,  the  carpets,  the 
spotted  brown  scones  in  the  bakers'  shops,  the  tawny 
sweetmeats,  the  golden  Hauran  wheat,  the  piles  of  green 
melons,  the  tables  of  snow  from  Hermon,  the  armour  and 
rich  saddle-bags,  the  human  dresses,  but  especially  the 
human  flesh — the  pallid  townsman,  the  mahogany  fellah, 
the  Druze  with  mountain  blood  in  his  cheek,  the  grey  Jew, 
the   black   and    blue-black   negroes.      Besides  Turk  and 


Dainasais  647 

Hebrew,  the  great  racial  types  are  three  :  the  Bedavvee 
Arab,  the  Greek,  and  the  Kurd.  They  are  the  token  of 
how  Damascus  Hes  between  the  Desert,  the  Levant,  and 
that  other  region  of  the  world  to  which  we  are  so  apt  to 
forget  that  Syria  has  any  avenue — the  highlands  of 
Armenia.  Saladin,  her  greatest  Sultan,  was  a  Kurd  :  the 
Kurd  sheep-masters  every  year  send  their  flocks  for  sale 
to  the  Lebanons,  and  Kurdish  cavalry  have  always  formed 
the  most  vigorous  part  of  the  Damascus  garrison. 

But  even  the  Bazaars  of  Damascus  fail  to  exhaust  the 
significance  of  the  city.  To  gather  more  of  this  you  must 
come  out  upon  the  three  great  roads  which  go  ^j^^  ^^^^^^ 
forth  from  her — west,  south,  and  east.  The  S'*^^^  ''°^'^^- 
western,  or  south-western,  road  travels  by  Galilee  to  the 
Levant  and  the  Nile.  The  southern,  which  leaves  the  city 
by  the  '  Gates  of  God,'  takes  the  pilgrims  to  Mecca.  The 
eastern  is  the  road  to  Baghdad.  Egypt,  Arabia,  Persia, — 
this  city  of  the  Khalifs  lies  in  the  midst  of  the  three,  and 
the  Mediterranean  is  behind  her. 

As  for  her  relations  to  Syria,  Damascus  never  had  in  these 
but  one  rival,  and  this  only  so  long  as  a  European  power 
ruled  in  the  East.  Antioch  was  the  creation  of  Damascus 
the  Greeks  (330  B.C.),  the  capital  of  the  Seleucid  """^  Antioch. 
dynasty,  the  residence  of  the  Roman  Legate  in  Syria, 
and  the  centre  of  Eastern  Christianity.  During  the 
thousand  years  of  European  supremacy  Damascus  fell 
second  to  Antioch,  and  her  history  is  obscure.  But  so 
soon  as  the  Moslem  came  (they  took  Damascus  in  634, 
Antioch  in  635),  the  city  on  the  Desert  rose  again  to  the 
first  rank,  the  city  on  the  Levant  began  to  decline.  For 
one  hundred  years,  6$o  to  750,  Damascus  had  the 
Khalifate  under  the  Omayades  ;  and  once  for  all  she  was 


648   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

bound  to  Mecca  itself  by  the  Hajj.  Under  Arab  rule 
Damascus  has  even  absorbed  the  Christian  fame  of  Antioch, 
for  though  the  Patriarch  still  takes  his  title  from  Antioch, 
he  resides  in  Damascus.  The  fortunes  of  the  two  cities 
during  the  Crusades  reflect  the  same  relations.  The 
European  forces  made  Antioch  their  centre,  but  they  never 
took  Damascus. 

In  the  history  of  religion,  Damascus  was  the  stage  of 

two  great  crises.     She  was  the  scene  of  the  conversion  of 

the  first  apostle  of  Christianity  to  the  Gentiles  : 

Religious  ,        _  ^,     .      . 

significance       she  was  the  first  Christian  city  to  be  taken  by 

of  Damascus.      ^   ,  ^  ^       i  -r->       i>  •  •  1 

Islam.  It  was  fit  that  raul  s  conversion,  with 
his  first  sense  of  a  mission  to  the  Gentiles,  should  not 
take  place  till  his  journey  had  brought  him  to  Gentile 
soil.  The  great  cathedral,  which  rose  on  the  ruins  of 
the  heathen  temple,  was  dedicated  not  to  Paul  but  to 
John  the  Baptist.  When  the  Moslem  took  Damascus  in 
634  this  Church  was  divided  between  Mohammedans  and 
Christians.  Seventy  years  later  it  was  absorbed  by  the  con- 
querors, and  was  rebuilt  to  become  one  of  the  greatest,  if 
not  the  richest,  of  the  mosques  of  Islam.  The  rebuilding 
destroyed  all  the  Christian  features,  except  that  which, 
still  above  the  south  portal,  preserves  this  prayer  and 
prophecy  :  Thy  kijigdom,  O  Christ,  is  an  everlasting  king- 
dom, and  Thy  dominion  enduretJi  for  all  generations. 


APPENDICES 

I.  Some    Geographical  Passages   and   Terms   of    the 
Old  Testament. 

II.  Stade's  Theory  of  Israel's   Invasion  of  Western 
Palestine. 

III.  The  Wars  against  Sihon  and  Og. 

IV.  The  Bibliography  of  Eastern  Palestine. 
V.  Roads  and  Wheeled  Vehicles  in  Syria. 


649 


APPENDIX  I 

SOME    GEOGRAPHICAL    PASSAGES   AND    TERMS    IN   THE 
OLD   TESTAMENT 

Reference  is  made  on  p.  52  to  several  passages  in  the  Old 
Testament  which  catalogue  the  chief  physical  features  of 
Palestine. 

{a)  The  earliest  of  these  seems  to  be  Judges  i.  9.  Looking 
west  from  the  hills  above  Jericho  the  writer  describes  the  tribe 
of  Judah  as  goifig  dozvn  to  fight  the  Canaanites  who  divelt  on  the 
Alount,  the  Negeb,  and  the  Shephelah.  In  his  masterly  examina- 
tion of  the  Book  of  Judges,  Budde  {Bikher  Richter  u.  Sajtiuel) 
argues  that  this  verse  does  not  belong  to  the  original  Jahvist 
narrative  on  the  ground  that  it  contradicts  ver.  19,  Judah  pos- 
sessed the  Mount,  hut  could  not  drive  out  the  inhabita?its  of  the 
Valley,  because  they  had  chariots  of  iron.  But,  in  the  first  place, 
ver.  9  only  says  that  Judah  went  down  to  attack  the  Canaanites 
in  the  Mount,  the  Negeb,  and  the  Shephelah,  while  ver.  19  deals 
with  the  result  of  that  attack,  viz.,  that  it  was  successful  only 
so  far  as  the  mountainous  territory  was  concerned.  Secondly, 
Budde  seems  to  take  Shephelah  and  'Ernek  or  Valley  as  the 
same  thing.  But  Shephelah  is  the  name  of  a  well-defined 
region,  the  low  hills  between  Philistia  and  the  Judasan  range, 
and  including  both  hill  and  vale.  'Emek,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
a  kind  of  land — valley  or  plain-land,  as  distinct  from  hilly 
country.  I  see  no  reason,  therefore,  for  separating  ver.  9  from 
the  section  in  which  it  occurs.  Note,  too,  that  it  is  said  Judah 
2vent  do7vn  to  the  Mount,  etc.,  which  can  only  mean  that  in  the 
mind  of  the  writer  this  tribe  did  not  depart  on  its  separate  path 
of  conquest  from  the  rest  of  Israel  till  after  Israel  had  reached 
the  crest  of  the  Central  Range. 


652    The  Histo7'ical  Geography  of  the.  Holy  Land 

The  rest  of  the  passages  form  a  group  in  which  it  is  possible 
to  identify  one  hand,  or,  at  least,  one  style,  that  of  the 
Deuteronomist. 

(b)  In  Deut.  i.  7  Israel  are  ordered  to  take  their  journey  to 
the  Mount  of  the  Amorite,  that  is,  the  Central  Range,  as  repre- 
sentative of  the  whole  land,  and  to  all  his  Jieighbours.  Then 
the  main  features  of  the  country  are  given  as  from  the  Jordan 
westward — ///  the  '■Arabah,  or  Jordan  Valley,  in  the  Mount,  or 
the  Central  Range  itself,  in  the  Shephelah,  in  the  Negeb,  and  on 
the  Coast  of  the  Sea — the  lafid  of  the  Canaanite.  Lebanon  is  then 
added,  and  all  the  country  north  to  the  great  river,  the  river 
Euphrates,  for  that  was  the  ideal  border  of  the  Promised  Land. 

(r)  In  Josh.  X.  40  all  the  Land,  as  far  as  it  was  conquered  by 
Joshua,  and  therefore  exclusive  of  the  Maritime  Plain,  is  defined 
as  The  Mount,  and  the  Negeb,  a?id  the  Shephelah,  and  the  Slopes 
(Eng.  Ver.,  springs). 

(d.)  In  Josh.  xi.  16  this  is  given  more  fully  as  the  Mount,  and 
all  the  Negeb,  and  all  the  Land  of  Goshen — an  unknown  quantity 
extending  from  Gibeon  (Josh.  x.  41;  cf.  xv.  51)  southwards 
across  Judah,  and  out  upon  the  Negeb,  and  to  be  distinguished 
from  that  land  of  Goshen  where  Israel  was  settled  in  Egypt — and 
the  Shephelah,  and  the  '■Arabah,  and  the  Motmt  of  Israel — that  is, 
the  Central  Range  within  the  limits  of  the  northern  kingdom  of 
Israel — and  its  Shephelah,  probably  the  district  of  lower  and 
more  open  hills  between  the  hills  of  Samaria  and  Carniel,  which 
present  so  many  resemblances  to  the  Shephelah  opposite  Judah. 
No  other  interpretation  seems  feasible ;  but,  if  it  be  correct,  then 
the  date  of  the  passage  can  only  be  after  the  kingdom  of  Israel 
was  separated  from  Judah. 

{e)  In  Josh.  xii.  8  we  find  The  Mountain,  the  Shephelah,  the 
^Arabah,  the  Slopes,  the  Desert — on  the  skirts  of  the  land — and 
the  Negeb.  The  Mountain  or  Central  Range  was  named  in  its 
various  portions.  The  Mountain — English  version,  hill-country — 
of  Judah  or  Judcea,^  the  Moimtain  of  Ephrai?n,'^  or  (as  we  have 
seen)  of  Israel,  or,  in  the  plural,  the  Moimtaifis  of  Samaria,  for 
the  range  is  scattered  here;  and  in  Galilee,  the  Mountain  of 
Naphtali. 

^  Luke.  ^  Authorised  Version,  Mount  Ephraim. 


Appendix  I  653 

All  these  refer  to  Western  Palestine.  The  divisions  and  names 
of  Eastern  Palestine  are  given  in  chap.  xxv.  As  in  the  west, 
we  have  mount  applied  to  the  hills  of  Moab  ;  mountains  of 
"■Abarim,  to  Gilead  and  to  Bashan.  There  is,  besides,  Mishor, 
applied  to  the  level  plateau  of  Moab  (Siegfried-Stade,  Hand- 
worterbuch,  refer  it  in  i  Chron.  xxvi.  10  to  the  Jordan  Valley,  but 
incorrectly). 


A  few  more  words  are  necessary  on  some  of  the  geographical 
terms  of  the  Old  Testament.  For  hills  or  heights  the  Hebrews 
had  the  following  words :  in  Har,  applied  either,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  a  whole  range,  or  hill-country  (in  this  case  also  used  in 
the  plural),  or  to  a  single  great  hill  like  Hor  (Num.  xx.  22),  or 
to  smaller  hills  like  the  citadel  of  Jerusalem  (Isa.  xxii.  5)  or 
Samaria.  LXX.,  mostly  opos  and  opeivr].  nyiJ  Gibe'ah,  is  '  hill,' 
properly  as  distinguished  from  viountai^i  in,  but  also  interchange- 
able sometimes  with  the  latter,  Isa.  xl.  4 ;  Job  xv.  7  ;  Prov.  viii. 
25.  Like  "in  of  Mount  Zion,  Isa.  x.  32  ;  Ezek.  xxxiv.  26.  But 
it  is  never  like  "in  used  of  a  mountain  range  or  hill-country.  On 
the  other  hand,  in  Song  of  Solomon  iv.  6,  it  may  be  used  of  an 
artificial  Jiigh  place.     LXX.  nearly  uniformly  (3ovv6<;. 

nD3  Bamah,  on  the  other  hand,  is  in  the  singular  used  only 
of  artificial  high  places ;  but  once  or  twice  in  the  plural  is  meant 
to  be  natural  heights  (e.g.  Micah  i.  3;  Jer.  xxvi.  18;  Ezek. 
xxxvi.  2  ;  cf.  2  Sam.  i.  19,  25). 

^S'y  'Ophel=swell,  bank,  or  mound;  as  a  common  noun  it  is 
used  only  for  tumours  on  the  body  (cf.  tumulus,  from  tumeo) ; 
as  a  name  with  the  article  (except  Isa.  xxxii.  14;  Micah  iv.  8) 
it  was  given  to  the  rising  ground  south-east  of  the  Temple, 
cf.  2  Kings  v.  24;  Neh.  iii.  26,  etc.  ;  also  to  a  part  of  Samaria, 
2  Kings  v.  24;  also  to  a  part  of  Dibon,  on  line  22  of  the 
INIoabite  Stone. 

nilt^X  Ashedoth,  as  we  have  seen,  are  certainly  slopes ;  and 
so  with  nii'DD  as  in  "ihn  "3,  Josh  xix.  12;  cf.  Josh.  xix.  18, 
Modern  Iksal.  IV  Sadh  =  side,  i  Sam.  xxiii.  26  ;  2  Sam.  xiii.  34; 
nsT'  Jarcah  =  thigh,  Judges  xix.  i.  18,  etc. ;  7Ti  Sel'a  =  rib,  2  Sam. 


654   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

xvi.    13;  D3^'  Shechem=back,  Gen.  xlviii.  22  ,  ^ina  Chatheph=: 

shoulder,  Josh.  xv.  8,  10;  xviii.  10,  of  hills,  but  also  to  the  sea 
coast  of  Philistia  as  rising  from  the  sea,  Isa.  xi.  14;  tJ'NI  Rosh, 
Arabic,  Ras  =  headland,  foreland,  or  summit;  and  even  riiJTS 
'Aznoth= ears  pun  niJTX  Josh.  xix.  34,  though  it  is  impossible 
to  say  to  what  exactly  this  refers.       jnp  Keren  =  horn. 

"•Dt^  Shephi  is  a  bare  hill ;  nS3  Naphah  is  elevation,  raised 
land,  only  in  Naphath  Dor,  the  rise  of  Carmel  behind  Dor; 
^T\  Tel  (in  composition  Tell  =  Arabic,  Tell)  is  the  mound  com- 
posed of  rubbish  on  which  a  village  often  stands.  Josh.  xi.  13  ; 
Jer.  XXX.  1 8 ;  also  the  heap  caused  by  the  overthrow  of  a  city, 
Deut.  xiii.  17,  etc.  As  a  place-name,  it  does  not  seem  to  have 
occurred  in  ancient  Palestine.  The  only  instances  of  it  in  the 
Old  Testament  refer  to  Babylonia,  Ezek.  iii.  15  ;  Ezra  ii.  59  ; 
Neh.  vii.  61.  Other  words  for  a  height  (geographical)  are  Di"iO 
Marom  (cf.  no^")  Rtlmah,  a  place-name,  2  Kings  xxiii.  36,  and 
the  frequent  no"i  Ramah) ;  IWXi  Misgab,  Ps.  xviii.  2.  A  summit 
is  D'X"i  as  above,  or  T'ZDX    Isa.  xvii.  6. 

npyo    Ma'aleh= ascent,  used  with   many  proper  names,    e.g. 

Akrabbim,  or  'the  scorpions,'  Num.  xxxiv.  4;  Josh.  xv.  3; 
Judges  i.  36 ;  Adummim,  Josh.  xv.  7,  see  p.  265  ;  Gur,  2  Kings 
ix.  27,  see  p.  388  n.  ;  Ziz,  2  Chron.  xx.  16,  see  p.  272;  Luhith 
in  Moab,  Isa.  xv.  5;  Jer.  xlviii.  5;  Beth-horon,  Josh.  x.  10;  cf. 
I  Mace.  iii.  16.  See  also  Judges  viii.  13.  HniD  Morad  is  the 
opposite,  used  of  the  descent  from  Ai  to  Jericho,  Josh.  vii.  5  ; 
of  the  Beth-horon,  Josh.  x.  10;  i  Mace.  iii.  24;  of  Horonainij 
Jer.  xlviii.  5  =  ascent  of  Luhith.  Other  words  for  'pass'  were 
■|3yo  mziyio  (see  p.  337)  and  3p3  Nekeb,  a  common  word  in 
Arabic,  which  in  the  Old  Testament  is  only  used  as  a  proper 
name,  Josh.  xix.  33  ;  1pir\  iQIX  LXX.  'Ap/xe,  Kal  Na/3o;<  or 
NaK-£/3. 

For  Valley  there  are  the  following: — On  ppj?  'Emek=^^£;^- 
em'ng,  and  nj?ip3  Bik'ah= opening,  see  pp.  384  f. ;  for  'Emek 
LXX.  gives  mostly  KotAas,  also  cjidpay^,  TreStov,  avXwv.  Here  we 
may  add  that  Elah  (i  Sam.  xvii.  2,  19),  Hebron  (Gen.  xxxvii.  14), 


Appendix  I  655 

Ajalon  (Josh.  x.  12  ;  cf.  Isa.  xxviii.  21),  Jezreel  (Josh.  xvii.  16: 
Judges  vi.  33  ;  vii.  i  ;  Hosea  i.  5)  are  the  only  places  called 
'Emek  which  are  identified  past  doubt.  There  were  also  the 
Vales  of  Siddim  (Gen.  xiv.  3,  8) ;  of  Rephaim  (Josh.  xv.  8). 
probably  the  vale  to  south-east  of  Jerusalem  ;  of  Achor  (Josh, 
vii.  24),  probably  one  of  the  passes  from  Jordan  into  Benjamin ; 
Shaveh  (Gen.  xiv.  17);  Keziz  (Josh,  xviii.  21);  Beth-rehob 
(Judges  xviii.  28),  probably  the  north  end  of  the  Jordan  Vale  ; 
Berachah  (2  Chron.  xx.  26) ;  Baca  (Ps.  Ixxxiv.  6) ;  Succoth 
(Ps.  Ix.  6  ;  cviii.  7),  again  part  of  the  Jordan  Valley  ;  Jehosha- 
phat  (Joel  iii.  2,  12  ;  cf.  v.  14).  Like  nypn,  pOJ?  is  applied  to 
all  parts  of  the  Jordan  Valley  (Josh.  xiii.  27  ;  perhaps  xviii.  28  \ 
Ps.  Ix.  6).  But  unlike  nj;p3  it  is  never  extended  to  any  plain 
so  wide  as  that  of  the  Euphrates,  or  like  the  central  triangle  of 
Esdraelon  (see  p.  385).  And  like  r\'^'\>1  it  is  used  generically  for 
level  valley-land,  either  ager,  land  that  can  be  ploughed  (Job 
xxxix.  10;  Ps.  Ixv.  14,  Heb.)  or  campus,  ground  fit  for  military 
manoeuvres  (Job  xxxix.  21  ;  Josh.  xvii.  16).  Hence  its  extension 
was  natural  to  the  whole  Philistine  plain  (Jer.  xlvii.  5).  On 
T\'^\>1  see  p.  385.  It  is  applied  to  broad  plains  like  Esdraelon, 
or  that  of  the  Jordan  under  Hermon  (Josh.  xi.  17  ;  xii.  7), 
or  at  Jericho  (Deut.  xxxiv.  3),  and  even  to  the  valley  of  the 
Euphrates  (Ezek.  iii.  22  ;  xxxviii.  i  ;  Gen.  xi.  2),  and  even  to 
the  Maritime  Plain.  The  LXX.  render  it  by  TreSto;/.  The  Arabic 
equivalent  to-day  is  the  name  of  the  vale  between  the  Lebanons, 
as  well  as  of  some  other  level  tracts  surrounded  by  hills.  For 
example,  the  Beka,  a^ijJ  1,  or  Bukei'a,  A.!t-.iijJ  1,  a  plain  on  the 
Belka',  to  the  east  of  Salt,  which  we  crossed  in  1891  from  the 
Jabbok.  It  is  a  high  secluded  vale,  about  four  miles  by  three, 
with  mountains  all  round  it.  Also  the  Bukei'a,  east  of  Shecheni; 
and  the  Bukei'a,  in  Judah,  above  the  north  end  of  the  Dead  Sea. 
A  surrounding  of  hills  seems  necessary  to  the  name  Bik'ah,  as  if 
land  laid  open  in  the  midst  of  hills. 

N"'a  or  ""a  Gai  (once  K''2  Isa.  xl.  4;  and  K''3  Zech.  xiv.  4)  is 
nearer  our  word  glen  than  valley.  It  is  generally  used  for  nar- 
rower openings  than  TX^"^"!  or  pDy.  Identified  sites  to  which  it  was 
applied  are  the  following  :  one  of  the  gorges  descending  from  the 
Moab  plateau  (Num.  xxi.   20,  Deut.  iii.  29,  etc.) ;  the  valley  of 


656   The  Histojdcal  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Hinnom,  Josh.  xv.  8,  etc.,  etc.;  the  valley  of  Jiphthah-el,  Josh.  xix. 
14,  27,  perhaps  the  Wady-el-Kurn  in  Galilee.  In  Ps.  xxiii.  4  it 
is  used  evidently  of  a  narrow  ravine,  in  Zech.  xiv.  14  of  a  sudden 
rent  or  cleft  through  a  hill.  In  i  Sam.  xvii.  3  it  is  perhaps  the 
ditch  of  the  stream  which  flows  through  the  'Emek  (see  p.  228). 
LXX.  cjidpay^  (usually)  avktitv,  KotAas,  vdirr],  or  transliterated  yi}. 

Other  words  are  nw  Shaveh,  or  level,  English  da/e,  Gen.  xiv. 
5,  in  Moab  a  proper  name  ;  Gen.  xiv.  7, — npiVO,  n^iifO  Meslilah 
Mes61ah=a  deep,  but  only  once  of  a  valley  bottom,  n'?yo  Mesullah, 
Zech.  i.  8.  nns,  ravine  or  abyss  (2  Sam.  xviii.  17;  cf.  Ezra.  ii.  6, 
etc. ;  Neh.  vii.  11).  bni  (see  below)  used  both  of  a  stream  and 
the  valley  through  which  it  flows. 

For  Plains,  besides  pny  and  n]:p2,  there  is  "IVC'^O  Mish6r= 
level,  generally  of  the  table-land,  especially  of  Moab  (Deut.  iii. 
10  ;  Josh.  xiii.  9,  16  ;  Jer.  xlviii.  21,  see  p.  548),  but  also  of  Bashan 
(i  Kings  XX.  23-35).  Ii"*  2  Chron.  xxvi.  10  it  is  referred  by  some 
(e.g.  Siegfried-Stade,  Handworterbuch)  to  the  Jordan  Plain,  but 
even  there  it  may  be  Moab.  In  Zech.  iv.  7  it  is  opposed  to  "in. 
From  the  same  root  is  \r\V)  Sharon,  but  always  as  a  proper  name, 
and  except  in  i  Chron.  v.  1 6,  where  it  refers  to  a  region,  east  of 
Jordan  (cf.  Neub.  Geog.  du  Tah7iud,  47)  always  of  the  Maritime 
Plain  from  Carmel  to  Joppa  (see  p.  147  f.).  LXX.  Spyft-o?  (Isa. 
Ixv.  10,  etc.)  and  TTcSiov  (Song  ii.  1;  i  Chron.  xxvii.  29).  On  n?W 
not  p/ain,  but  low  hills  (see  fully,  p.  201  ff.).  Also  73S  Abel,  a 
meadow  always  in  composition,  Abel-beth-maacah  (i  Kings  xv, 
20,  etc.)  or  Abel-maim,  2  Chron.  xvi.  4,  perhaps  the  present  Abil- 
el-Kamh  (Rob.  L.R.);  Abel-ha-Shittim  (of  the  acacias.  Num. 
xxxiii.  49)  opposite  Jericho ;  Abel-meholah  (of  the  dance  or  the 
whirls  (?),  see  p.  581  n.  9);  Abel-keramim  (of  vineyards.  Judges 
xi.  33);  Abel-misraim  (of  Egypt,  Gen.  1.  11).  In  i  Sam.  vi.  18 
read  pS  for  ^nx-     For  nib>  field,  see  p.  79  f.     "13  a  watered  field, 

Isa.  XXX.  23.    133,  p.  505.     ^""^3,  p.  413- 

On  imo  (German  Trifl  from  treiben)  from  "in  to  drive  {i.e. 
herds  to  pasture)  according  to  Jer.  xxv.  24  =  land  not  sown. 
The  English  version  renders  it  wilderness,  or  sometimes  desert. 
It  is  properly  land  roamed  by  nomads  in    opposition  to  land 


I 


Appendix  I  657 

occupied  by  the  settled  tillers  of  the  soil,  nmj?  'Arabah  =  desert- 
steppe,  is  used  generally  as  parallel  to  Midbar  (Isa.  xxxvi.  6,  etc.; 
Zech.  xiv.  10,  etc.).  It  is  from  the  same  root  as  Arabia  and  Arab. 
But  as  a  proper  name  with  the  definite  article  it  is  generally 
confined  to  the  Jordan  Valley.  Deut.  ii.  8,  etc.,  etc.  (see  p.  484). 
pot^"  Jeshimon,  devastation,  is  a  still  stronger  word.  See  p.  312, 
for  its  application  to  the  wilderness  of  Judah.  In  a  general 
signification,  Deut.  xxxii.  10;  Isa.  xliii.  19,  20;  Ps.  Ixviii.  7,  etc. 
For  River,  the  most  comprehensive  is  "inj  stream,  Ger. 
Fluss,  used  for  a  river  (Gen.  ii.  10;  Job  xl.  23),  but  also  of  smaller 
streams  and  even  of  artificial  ones,  canals  (Ex.  viii.  i  ;  Ezek. 
xxxi.  4  ;  Ps.  cxxxvii.  i).  The  River,  "injn  =the  Euphrates,  Gen. 
xxxi.  21,  etc.,  etc.,  but  in  Isa.  xix.  5  singular,  ver.  6  plural,  the  Nile. 
The  Naharaim  of  Aram-Naharaim  are  probably  the  Euphrates 
and  Chabiras  {Z.A.7'.  iii.  307  f.,  Budde  Urgeschichte,  445  f.). 
in:  is  also  used  of  the  sea,  and  in  the  plural  of  its  currents  or 
tides  (?),  Ps.  Ixvi.  6,  xxiv.  2  (but  here  probably  of  the  great  deep 
under  the  earth.) 

^n3  Nahal  =  Arabic  Wady,  Greek  x^^l^^ph°'^j  Ital.  fitirndra, 
a  winter-torrent  and  the  valley  through  which  it  flows  {e.g. 
cf.  I  Kings  xvii.  3,  hide  in  Nahal  Khertth  and  ver.  4,  drink  of  the 
Nahat).  Identified  valleys  of  this  kind  to  which  it  is  applied  in  the 
Old  Testament,  are  Kedron,  2  Sam.  xv.  23  ;  El-Arish,  the  river  of 
Egypt,  Num.  xxxiv.  5;  Josh.  xv.  4,  etc.;  Eshcol,  Num.  xiii.  23,  etc.; 
Kanah,  the  present  W.  Kaneh,  Josh.  xvi.  8 ;  Sorek  W.  es  Surar, 
Judges  xvi.  4  ;  Gerar,  perhaps  Wady  Kibab,  Gen.  xxvi.  17,  cf.  i 
Sam.  XV.  5.  But  ?nj  is  also  used  for  large  perennial  streams  like 
Arnon  (Num.  xxi.  14  ;  Deut.  ii.  24,  iii.  8),  Jabbok  (Gen.  xxxii. 
23  ;  Deut.  ii.  37).  Other  D^^m  not  identified  are  Zared  (see 
p.  557).  Besor  in  north  of  Judah  (i  Sam.  xxx.  9,  10,  21)  ;  Gaash 
in  Mount  Ephraim  (Josh.  xxiv.  30  ;  Judges  ii.  9,  etc.;  2  Sam.xxiii. 
30;  I  Chron.  xi.  32) ;  Cherith  (see  p.  580) ;  Gad  (2  Sam.  xxiv.  5); 
Shittim  (Joel  iii.  18).  A  perennial  stream  is  jn"'X  hni,  LXX. 
generally  translates  by  x^'-H-^PPoo's,  even  of  Arnon  and  Jabbok ; 
but  also  by  cfidpay^  of  Kishon  (Josh.  xix.  11);  Arnon  (Deut.  ii. 
24);  Eshcol  (Num.  xiii.  23);  and  byTrora/xd?  of  El-Arish,  i  Kings 
viii.  65  ;  by  vdirai,  Num.  xxvi.  6. 

2  T 


658    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

"liX^  Ye 'or = the  Nile,  Gen.  xli.1-3,  etc.;  plural, — Nile-canals,  Ex. 
viii.  I  ;  Isa.  vii.  18  ;  Nahum.  iii.  8;  canals  in  general,  Isa.  xxxiii. 
21  ;  river  in  general,  Dan.  xii.  5-7.  LXX.  Trora/xos,  except  in  Isa. 
xxxiii.  21,  Siwpvx^s,  xxxvii.  25  (crvvayoiyrjv  vSarosi).  lilT'D'  or 
■iintJ>  or  iht:^'  is  parallel  to  "liKI  for  the  Nile,  Isa.  xxiii.  3  ;  cf.  Jer. 

ii.  18.  In  Josh.  xiii.  3  it  is  either  the  Pelusiac  branch  of  the  Nile, 
or  the  Wady  el  Arish. 

J?3  Peleg  is  the  Arabic  Faleeg  (cf.  -eAa-yos,  _/??/^///.y)  =  stream, 
Judges  V.  15,  16  ;  Ps.  i.  3  ;  xlvi.  4  ;  Ixv.  9,  etc,  72^X  =  river, 
Dan.  viii.  2,  3,  6.  So  also  72V,  Jer.  xvii.  8.  (The  text  h^D  of 
2  Sam.  xvii.  20  is  corrupt.)  A  canal  or  conduit  is  T\7]}F\  Te'alah 
=  bringing  up  (of  Elijah's  trench,  i  Kings  xviii.  32,  etc.;  of 
Jerusalem  conduits,  2  Kings  xviii.  17;  xx.  20;  Isa.  vii.  3),  or  JV^ 
Shelah  =  (water)  shoot,  Neh.  iii.  15.  p''DJ<  is  river-bed,  Ps.  xviii, 
16;  stream,  Ps.  cxxvi.  4 ;  Wadi,  Ezek.  vi.  3.  ^^_  ^fl«^= river-side, 
as  we  say  Dee-side,  Deut.  ii.  37.  nsb' =  lip,  is  bank  or  brink, 
Josh.  xi.  4,etc. ;  nvp  =  end,  is  either  the  mouth  of  a  river,  Josh.  xv. 
5  ;  xviii.  19,  or  the  edge  of  its  waters.  Josh.  iii.  8,  1 5  ;  niia  =  banks. 
Josh.  iii.  15,  etc.  Spates  or  floods  are  D''DTp  (probably,  see 
p.  395);  PiDK' (Ps.  xxxii.  6,  etc.);  npintJ'"  (Isa.  xxvii.  12:  cf.  Judges 
xii.) ;  and  perhaps  DlT.  though  this  is  rather  the  burst  of  rain  that 
makes  the  flood.  "i2C^a  =  breaker,  was  originally  billow,  2  Sam. 
xxii.  5  ;  Jonah  ii.  3  ;  but  in  Ps.  xlii.  7  it  may  be  cataract.  73 
parallel  to  it  in  Jonah  ii.  5  =  heap  or  mass  of  water,  haisn  =  The 
Deluge. 

On  Wells  and  Springs  (see  pp.  77  ff.).  Besides  ]']V  and  "is'n  there 
are  pyo  a  collective  of  py,  cf.  Josh.  xv.  9,  etc. ;  D^y  N^'in  fountain- 
head  (Ps.  cvii.  33,  35,  etc.,  cf.  Ras  el  'Ain,  p.  77).  "lipo  poetical 
word  for  a  spring  that  has  been  dug,  Jer.  Ii.  36,  etc.;  yino  pro- 
bably =  gushing,  Isa.  XXXV.  7;  xlix.  10;  h^;  bubbling  springs, 
Josh.  XV.  19;  Judges  i.  15.  "iNn  or  lia  is  a  dry  1X3,  cf.  Gen. 
xxxvii.  20  ;  but  also  used  for  water,  Jer.  vi.  7,  etc. 

Cisterns,  Lakes,  Pools,  and  Ponds. — For  Gennesaret  and 


Appendix  I  659 

the  Dead  Sea  the  word  is  D''  =  sea  ;  a  bay  of  this  is  p::'7  =  tongue 
or  )'"iSO  (or  harbour,  see  p.  132) ;  its  bed  ViXDP.  Amos  ix.  3  ;  nana 
is  a  pool  or  tank,  2  Sam.  ii.  13,  etc.;  mi3D  a  reservoir,  Isa.  xxii.  1 1  ; 
D3X  a  pond  of  standing  water,  Ps.  cvii.  35,  etc.;  2a  =  ditch,  2 
Kings  iii.  16;  Isa.  xxx.  14. 


APPENDIX  II 

(See  p.  274) 

Stade's  theory  of  Israel's  invasion  of  Western  Palestine 
will  be  found  in  vol.  i.  pp.  133,  141  of  his  Geschichte  des  Volkes 
Israel.  It  may  bewilder  the  reader  at  first  that  it  should  be 
necessary  to  seek,  as  Stade  does,  a  theory  so  utterly  different 
from  the  biblical  account,  but  Stade  has  evidently  felt  himself 
compelled  to  this  by  his  unwillingness  to  attribute  to  Israel  any 
but  the  most  physical  of  impulses  in  crossing  Jordan,  and  by  his 
belief  that  the  Israelites  could  never  have  overcome  the  Canaan- 
ites  in  war.  We  shall  see  how  far  justified,  how  far  possible 
of  proof,  are  both  of  these  presuppositions.  After  the  death  of 
Moses  (this  is  Stade's  theory)  Israel  continued  to  reside  on  the 
east  of  the  Jordan  for  a  very  long  time,  during  which  they  passed 
from  the  nomadic  to  the  agricultural  stage,  and  consequently  in- 
creased much  in  numbers.  Eastern  Palestine  became  too  small  for 
them,  and  separate  clans  were  forced  to  seek  new  homes  across 
the  Jordan.  About  their  passage  into  Western  Palestine,  Stade 
asserts  three  things :  First,  that  they  did  not  cross  at  once  as  a 
united  body,  but  gradually,  clan  by  clan.  Joshua  is  an  entirely 
legendary  personage,  an  Eponymus  of  Ephraim,  one  of  the  clans. 
Second,  they  crossed  peacefully,  and  won  land  west  of  Jordan  by 
purchase  or  treaty,  not  by  war.  Third,  they  crossed  not  at 
Jericho,  for  at  that  time  opposite  Jericho  lay  Moabite,  and  not 
Israelite,  territory,  but  farther  north  at  Jabbok,  where  the  Israelite 
population  east  of  Jordan  was  most  dense.  Such  is  Stade's  theory. 
Its  presupposition — that  Israel  had  no  impulse  to  cross  Jordan 
except  a  physical  one,  no  memory  of  her  forefathers'  possession 
of  the  land,  no  consciousness  of  national  unity,  no  impetus 


66o   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

derived  from  the  long  leadership  of  Moses,  no  desire  for  a 
national  territory  on  surer  ground  than  the  east  of  Jordan 
afforded,  nothing  but  the  spilHng  over  of  her  increasing  numbers — 
that  is  an  absolute  negative  which  it  is  simply  impossible  to  prove, 
even  if  it  were  not  opposed,  as  it  is,  to  the  entire  body  of  Israelite 
tradition,  and  inconsistent  with  Israel's  subsequent  history.  Is 
it  possible  that  so  ancient  (for  it  is  found  in  the  earliest  poems), 
so  widespread  (for  it  occurs  in  every  source)  a  tradition,  as  that 
Israel  was  conscious  of  her  unity  and  her  leadership  by  Jehovah 
in  crossing  Jordan,  can  be  wrong  ?  Is  it  possible  that  Israel, 
which  became  what  she  did,  had  not  already  (especially  after  all 
Moses  did  and  taught)  some  sense  of  her  national  destiny,  and 
was  not  left  to  the  mere  unconscious  drift  of  an  increasing 
population  ?  But  to  go  on  from  this  presupposition,  which  I  think 
groundless,  to  the  three  points  deduced  from  it.  First,  that  the 
passage  of  Jordan  was  gradual,  clans  by  clans,  and  that  Joshua 
was  no  real  person.  Stade  bases  his  assertion  that  Joshua  is 
merely  the  personification  of  the  clan  Ephraim  on  the  statement 
that  he  is  known  to  only  one  of  the  documents,  the  Ephraimite 
E.  But  Kuenen  {Onderzoek,  sec.  ed.  §  13),  Dillmann  (in  his 
commentary),  and  Budde  {Z.A.T.  W.  vii.  133 ;  Ri.  u.  Sam.)  have 
all  shown  that  Joshua  was  known  also  to  the  Judsean  source  J — ■ 
a  fact  of  which  Kittel  rightly  says,  that  '  it  can  hardly  be  doubted ' 
{Gesch.  i.  248).  But  if  there  be  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Joshua 
was  real,  then  we  have  a  personal  centre  for  the  whole  people 
while  crossing  the  Jordan  and  settling  upon  Western  Palestine, 
only  less  strong  than  that  round  which  they  had  previously  been 
kept  united,  viz.  Moses.  Second,  Stade  supposes  that  Israel's 
occupation  of  the  land  was  peaceful.  In  Western  Palestine  there 
was  much  forest-land  unoccupied  on  the  hills.  Part  of  this  the 
Canaanites,  who  had  the  towns  and  the  valley-land,  gladly  sold 
or  gave  away  to  various  Israelite  clans,  in  order  to  prevent 
Israel's  military  seizure  of  land  (the  possibility  of  which,  observe, 
Stade  admits).  His  arguments  for  this  are  (a)  that  the  Canaan- 
ites were  too  strong  for  Israel  to  acquire  land  by  force  ;  {b) 
that  the  Israelite  occupation  was  only  partial  and  for  a  long  time 
outside  the  chief  houses  ;  {c)  that  for  a  long  time  Israel  lived  on 
peaceful   relations,    intermarriage,  etc.,  with  Canaan.      But  {a) 


Appendix  II  66 1 

is  not  true.  It  is  probable  (from  extra-biblical  evidence)  that 
Western  Palestine  at  this  time  was  inhabited  by  tribes  that  were 
disunited  and  greatly  weakened  by  previous  wars.  This  was  not 
the  only  time  in  Syria's  history  that  Arab  tribes  in  the  flush  of 
their  strength  and  hope  defeated  the  degenerate,  though  better 
equipped,  settled  populations.  Stade  himself  admits  both  that  the 
Canaanites  submitted  to  a  peaceful  occupation  only  under  fear 
of  a  military  one,  and  that  certain  tribes  of  Israel  (Dan,  Simeon, 
and  Levi)  did  win  their  land  by  the  sword.  Again  {b)  is  admitted 
in  the  narrative,  and  is  as  compatible  with  a  warlike  as  with  a 
peaceful  invasion.  A  partial  occupation  by  war  is  in  harmony 
with  all  we  know  of  the  methods  of  Semitic  warfare — the  fierce 
rush  at  a  territory,  and  if  complete  success  does  not  follow, 
exhaustion  of  energy,  acquiescence  with  what  has  been  gained. 
Nor  is  {c)  incompatible  with  a  military  invasion  of  the  kind  just 
described.  But  turning  from  these  reasons  to  the  assertion  itself 
— if  Stade  be  right  that  Israel  won  parts  of  Western  Palestine 
by  treaty  and  purchase,  why  is  there  no  trace  in  the  narratives, 
dealing  with  the  time,  of  such  transactions?  Why  is  the  tradi- 
tion of  a  military  conquest  so  solid  ? 

It  is  in  connection  with  this,  and  with  Stade's  Third  position, 
that  Geography  comes  in.  He  holds  that  Israel  could  not  have 
crossed  at  Jericho,  for  Eastern  Palestine  opposite  Jericho  was  at 
this  time  not  Israelite  but  Moabite  territory.  Yet  this  is  by  no 
means  certain.  What  we  do  know  is  that  in  later  times  Eastern 
Palestine  opposite  Jericho  was  in  Moab's  hands  ;  but  this  surely 
is  a  reason  against  supposing  that  the  tradition  of  Israel's  crossing 
at  this  place  was  a  late  tradition.  Stade  says  that  tradition 
merely  fixed  on  the  Jordan  at  Jericho  as  a  likely  place;  but 
would  this  have  seemed  a  likely  place  at  a  time  when  the  Eastern 
bank  was  in  Moab's  hands  ?  The  rise,  therefore,  of  a  tradition 
of  the  passage  of  the  Jordan  just  here  became  more  and  more 
(as  I  have  said,  p.  275)  improbable  as  the  centuries  went  on. 
Turning  now  to  Western  Palestine,  we  find  the  strong  geo- 
graphical reasons  for  the  passage  at  Jericho  which  I  have  already 
given  (pp.  275  f.).  In  Western  Palestine,  as  every  one  admits, 
Israel  was  divided  at  first  into  two  parts  :  the  Joseph  tribes  were 
settled  in  Mount  Ephraim,  and  the  tribe  of  Judah  on  the  plateau 


662    The  Histoi^ical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

to  the  south  of  Jerusalem,  but  in  between  them  there  were  strong 
Canaanite  settlements.^  Now,  what  other  point  of  entrance 
better  corresponds  than  Jericho  does  to  this  disposition  of  the 
tribes  ?  Had  Israel  crossed  at  Jabbok,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how 
some  tribes  got  into  Judah  as  well  as  some  into  Mount  Ephraim, 
unless  you  suppose,  with  some  scholars  (so  Oort's  Atlas),  that  the 
tribe  Judah  never  crossed  the  Jordan,  but  came  up  into  its  settle- 
ments through  the  Negeb  :  a  supposition  for  which  there  is  no 
real  evidence.  But  take  the  statement  of  the  Book  of  Joshua  (to 
which  more  than  one  document  contributes)  that  Israel  crossed 
as  a  whole  by  Jericho.  Then  how  natural  is  the  subsequent  dis- 
position of  the  tribe — for  roads  lead  up  from  Jericho  equally  into 
Mount  Ephraim,  the  plateau  of  Benjamin,  and  the  centre  and 
south  of  Jud^a.  Again,  the  easy  capture  of  Jericho  is  a  fact 
which  all  the  subsequent  history  of  the  town  renders  probable. 
As  we  have  seen  (pp.  267  f.),  Jericho  never  once  stood  a  siege. 
Finally,  the  existence  of  Israel's  central  camp  at  Gilgal  for  a  con- 
siderable period,  while  the  hill-country  was  being  subdued 
(Josh.  X.  43),  receives  an  interesting  proof  in  support  of  its 
possibility  from  the  analogous  case  of  the  Canaanites  who  ruled 
the  hill-country  from  Gilgal  as  a  centre  (Deut.  xi.  30). 


APPENDIX  III 

ON   THE   WARS    AGAINST    SIHON    AND   OG 
(See  pp.  560  and  575) 

The  War  against  Sihon  the  king  of  the  Amorites. — 
The  unreality  of  this  war,  and  the  reference  of  the  song  (Num. 
xxi.  27-30)  to  an  invasion  of  Moab  by  Israel  in  the  ninth 
century,  have  been  argued  for  by  Meyer  {Z.A.T.W.,  1881,  pp. 
118  ff.)  j  Stade  {Gesch.  i.  117  fif.);  and  after  them  Addis  {Docu- 
vients  of  the  Hexateuch  i.  p.  174).     Against  them  Dillmann  (in 

^  Although  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  had  already  occupied  its  territory,  as 
Kittel  has  shown  {Gesch.  p.  i.  265  f.).  There  is  no  reason  for  supposing  that 
the  tribe  Benjamin  was  not  formed  till  after  the  settlement  of  Ephraim.  It 
was  there  from  the  first,  and  on  the  territory  which  the  Book  of  Joshua 
assigns  to  it. 


Appendix  III  663 

J\'u»il>ers,  etc.,  2nd  ed.  pp.  12S  ff.),  Kuenen  {0/iderzoek,  i.  13, 
13),  Wellhausen  {Hist.),  support  the  fact  of  the  war.  The 
arguments  may  be  summed  up  as  follows  :  Reasons  against  the 
historical  character  of  the  war  against  Sihon  ;  (i)  It  is  mentioned 
only  in  E  (Num.  xxi.)  and  D  (ii.  24  ff. :  Judges  xii.  13  is,  according 
to  Budde,  an  insertion  taken  directly  from  E.,  Richter  u.  Sam. 
p.  125) ;  (2)  Neither  P  nor  J  says  anything  about  it;  but  (3)  on 
the  contrary  both  represent  Sihon's  land  as  if  still  in  possession  of 
Moab,  or  at  least  with  the  name  of  Moab ;  e.g.  in  P  there  is  Num. 
xxii.  I,  the  Israelites  encamped  i7i  Arboth-Moal\  opposite  Jericho^ 
and  in  JE  (Num.  xxii.  41  ;  xxiii.  14,  28)  Balak  of  Moab  brings 
Balaam  to  Bamoth  as  if  it  were  his  own  territory. 

To  these  reasons  it  may  be  replied,  (i)  E  is  the  oldest  docu- 
ment ;  (2)  though  neither  P  nor  J  mentions  the  war  with  Sihon, 
they  do  not  give  a  story  nor  any  detail  inconsistent  with  the 
occurrence  of  such  a  war.  For  instance,  they  do  not  say  that 
Israel  took  the  land  between  Arnon  and  Jabbok  from  Moab  or 
Amnion,  which  indeed  would  have  been  a  contradiction  of  E. 
On  the  contrary,  the  only  trace  of  a  war  between  Moab  and 
Israel  is  a  fragment  of  E's  own  in  Josh.  24,  9 ;  (3)  though  Moab 
had  been  driven  out  by  Sihon  from  her  proper  territory,  her  name 
would  more  or  less  remain  attached  to  it ;  so  that  though  the 
place  Israel  encamped  on  opposite  Jericho  was  called  Arboth- 
Moab,  that  need  not  mean  that  Moab  still  possessed  it.  Dill- 
mann,  too,  points  out  that  Sihon's  conquest  of  Heshbon  need 
not  be  taken  to  mean  that  all  the  Moabites  were  banished. 
Again,  D,  which  gives  the  war  with  Sihon  for  the  land  between 
Jabbok  and  Arnon,  neverihelcss  calls  the  latter  the  land  of. 
Moab  (i.  5  ;  xxviii.  69 ;  xxxiv.  5). 

There  can  be  no  objection  to  the  story  itself.  There  is  nothing 
incredible  in  it.  If  in  later  centuries  all  Israel  under  David,  and 
Northern  Israel  under  Oniri,  crossed  Jordan  and  occupied  the 
territory  of  Moab,  the  Amorites  may  well  have  done  the  same. 
And,  again,  there  was  nothing  to  be  gained  by  inventing  the 
story. 

We  come  now  to  the  song  itself. 

Those  who  believe  that  it  does  not  refer  to  a  war  on  the  Amor- 
ites, at  Israel's  first  entrance  to  the  land,  but  to  an  invasion  of 


664   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Moabite  territory  from  the  west  of  the  Jordan,  in  the  ninth  century, 
allege  that  the  course  of  conquest  it  marks  is  from  north  to  south, 
the  line  of  the  latter  invasion,  but  they  have  to  omit  the  words,  the 
king  of  the  Amorites  Sihon  in  ver.  29,  and  take  Sihon  as  a  king  of 
Moab.  But  against  ver.  2()d  there  is  no  objection,  apart  from 
the  requirements  of  this  theory.  Leave  it,  and  interpret  the  first 
line  of  conquest  traced  in  the  poem  (vv.  28,  29)  as  that  of  Sihon 
over  Moab,  and  you  do  not  violate  the  geography. 

To  sum  up :  the  theory  of  Meyer  and  Stade,  that  the  war  with 
Sihon  is  unhistorical,  and  that  the  poem  refers  to  a  conquest  by 
Israel  of  Moab  in  the  ninth  century,  can  only  be  held  by 
sacrificing  vv.  26  and  29^,  against  neither  of  which  is  there  any 
objection  apart  from  this  theory ;  while  the  story  of  the  war 
against  Sihon  as  told  by  E  is  neither  improbable  in  itself,  nor 
inconsistent  with  the  data  in  J  and  P,  nor  likely  to  have  been 
invented. 

2.  The  War  with  Og,  king  of  Bashan. — This  war  has  not 
the  same  documentary  evidence  in  its  support.  In  Num.  xxi.  the 
account  of  it  is  an  insertion  (vv.  33  ff.)  obviously  from  the  hand 
of  a  Deuteronomic  writer.  No  characteristic  phrases  of  the 
Deuteronomist  occur  in  it.  Nor,  except  perhaps  in  three  cases,  is 
there  any  mention  of  this  war  in  the  Hexateuch,  outside  the  well- 
marked  Deuteronomic  passages.  Num.  xxi.  33  ff. ;  Deut.  i.  4; 
iii. ;  iv.  47  ;  xxix.  7  ;  Josh.  xii.  4.  The  doubtful  passages  are 
Num.  xxxii.  33,  which  is  assigned  by  Kautsch  to  a  late  edition  ; 
Josh.  ix.  10,  which  Kautsch  assigns  to  JE,  but  Dillmann 
regards  as  an  insertion,  and  Josh.  xiii.  30,  which  is  probably  from 
the  Priestly  Writing.  The  passage,  i  Kings  iv.  19,  is  Deutero- 
nomic. The  stor}',  therefore,  we  owe  to  the  Deuteronomist,  and 
we  have  no  such  reminiscence  of  it  as  is  left  us  of  the  war  with 
Sihon  in  the  song.  On  this  account,  many  who  admit  Sihon  as 
a  historical  reality,  decline  so  to  receive  Og.  It  is  one  of  those 
cases  where  proof  is  absolutely  impossible ;  and  we  must  allow 
that  we  have  not  the  amount  of  evidence  we  had  in  Sihon's  case. 
At  the  same  time  Og  was  indissolubly  bound  with  Sihon  in  the 
memory  and  tradition  of  the  people,  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  how 
he  can  have  been  invented.  There  is  no  geographical  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  a  campaign  north  of  the  Jabbok.     Edrei  would  be 


Appendix  III  665 

as  likely  a  place  for  Israel  to  fight  with  a  king  of  Bashan  as  any 
other,  while  the  fact  that  no  battles  are  mentioned  farther  north 
towards  Damascus,  or  on  the  east  side  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee, 
where  it  would  have  been  even  easier  for  the  popular  memory  to 
have  invented  victories  for  Moses,  is  a  proof  that  the  tradition 
was  restrained  by  actual  historical  facts.  Critics,  who  assign  to 
Israel  a  very  long  residence  in  the  east  of  Jordan,  should  be 
ready  to  admit  of  such  an  extension  of  their  conquest  north- 
ward by  the  easiest  route  to  places  so  attractive  as  those  of 
Bashan,  before  the  crossing  of  Jordan  was  attempted. 


APPENDIX  IV 

BIBLIOGRAPHY   OF    EASTERN    PALESTINE 

Authorities  on  the  East  of  the  Jordan  are  as  follows  (I  mark 
those  I  have  not  seen  by  an  asterisk)  : — Volney,  Voyage  en  Syne, 
etc.,  1 783-1785,  II.  (Eng.  Ed.  181 2);  Seetzen's  J^eisen  du;r/i  Sjriefi 
in  1806;  Burckhardt,  Travels  in  Syria  and  the  Holy  Land  in 
1810-1812  (London,  1822);  Buckingham,  Travels  in  Palestine, 
through  the  countries  of  Bashan  and  Gileadin  1816  (London,  1821); 
Travels  among  the  Arab  tribes  east  of  Syria,  etc.  (London,  1825) ; 
Irby  and  Mangles'  Travels  in  Egypt,  Syria,  etc.,  181 7,  1818 
(London,  1822);  *Schubert  (and  Roth),i'?me  in' s Morgenla}id,i2>T^'] 
(the  first  to  discover  the  great  depth  of  the  Dead  Sea  below  the 
Mediterranean);  Robinson,  Bib.  Res.  (made  in  1838),  especially 
vol.  ii.,  containing  journey  to  Petra;  Molyneux's  'Expedition  to 
Dead  Sea  in  1847,'  i"  Journal  of  Royal  Geographical  Society, 
xviii.  pp.  126  ff . ;  Lynch's  Narrative  of  U.S.  Expedition  in  1848, 
including  visit  to  Kerak;  in  1852  Robinson  visited  Pella  and  Wady 
Yabis  (see  Later  Bib.  Res.,  sec.  viii.  (London,  1856);  Porter, 
Eive  Years  in  Datnascus,  with  Travels,  etc.,  in  Palmyra,  Lebanon, 
and  the  Hauran  (London,  1855);  *Roth  in  Petermann's  Mitthei- 
lungen,  1857  and  1858,  journeys  about  Kerak  southward  to 
Akabah  ;  G.  Rey,  Voyage  dans  le  Haouran  et  aux  bords  de  la 
Mer  Mortc  in  1858  ;  Wetzstein,  Reisebericht  iiber  Hauran  u.  die 
Trachonen   (1858),   (Berlin,   i860);    *Wetzstein's  and  Dorgen's 


666   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

expedition  farther  south  in  1800,  in  Petermann's  Miitheil.  1866; 
De  Saulcy  in  1863  visited  Amnion,  Hesban,  etc.,  Voy.  en  Terre 
Saiftte,  i.,  1865  :  *Duc  de  Luynes,  Voy.  (T exploration  a  la  Mer 
Morte,  a  Fetra,  et  sur  la  rive  gauche  du  Jourdain  in  1864  (pub. 
in  1874),  vol.  ii.  contains  Mavor's  and  Sanvaire's  expedition  to 
Kerak,  Shobek,  etc. ;  Wilson  and  Anderson,  1866,  in  F.E.F.Q., 
vol.  i. ;  Warren,  Reconnaissance  of  fordan  Valley,  1867  ;  and  in 
F.E.F.Q.,  i.  and  ii. ;  Palmer  and  Drake,  Desert  of  Tih  and 
Country  of  Moab  in  F.E.F.Q.,  1871 ;  the  two  Kieperts  travelled 
from  Amman  by  Gadara  to  Muzeirib  in  1870,  '^ Zeitschrift  der 
Ges.  fiir  Erdkunde  (Berlin,  v.) ;  Northey's  Expedition  East  of 
Jorda7i  in  1871  {F.E.F.Q.,  1872);  Tristram's  journey  of  1871  in 
Land  of  Moab,  1874;  Porter's  journey  of  1874  in  F.E.F.Q., 
1881  ;  Kersten's  journey  to  Dead  Sea  and  Moab,  1874,  in 
Z.D.F.V,  ii. ;  Expedition  of  American  Society  in  1876,  in 
Merrill's  East  of  the  fordan  (London,  1881) ;  Schick's  journey  to 
Moab  in  1877  is  described  with  map  in  Z.D.F.V.,  ii. ;  in  1881 
Danger  made  a  short  journey,  reported  in  *Mitth.  d.  Geogr. 
Ges.  in  Wien,  1882;  Burton  and  Drake,  Unexplored  Syria; 
Laurence  Oliphant's  Land  of  Gilead,  1880.  In  1881  Conder 
and  Mantell  began  that  brave,  skilful  survey  of  Eastern  Palestine, 
which  the  Turkish  authorities  brought  to  so  abrupt  a  conclusion. 
For  account  of  this  survey,  see  F.E.F.Q.,  1881,  1882;  F.E.F. 
Mem.  on  Eastern  Palestine,  and  Conder,  Heth  and  Moab,  1885. 
In  1884,  the  English  Geological  Expedition,  under  Hull  and 
Kitchener,  surveyed  the  south  end  of  Dead  Sea  and  regions 
round  about,  F.E.F.Q.,  1884,  and  Geolog.  vol.  m  F.E.F.  Mem. 
In  1884  Guy  Le  Strange  visited  Pella,  Ajhin,  and  the  Belka', 
F.E.F.Q.,  1885,  also  in  Schumacher's  Across  Jordan,  in  which  is 
given  Oliphant's  Trip  to  N.E.  of  Lake  Tiberias.  Schumacher's 
very  careful  and  important  surveys  and  travels,  from  1885 
onward,  are  described  in  Across  the  Jordan,  being  an  Exploration 
and  Survey  of  part  of  Liauran  and  Jaulan  (London,  1886  :  pub- 
lished by  F.E.F. ;  The  Jaulan,  surveyed  for  the  D.F.  V.  (Eng. 
Ed.  1888)  ;  Fella;  Ajlun ;  Abila  of  the  Decapolis -x^  supplement 
\.o  P.E.F.Q.  1889. 

Other  more  recent  works  are  Scharling,  Liauran :  Eeisebilder 
aus  Palastina  (Bremen,  1890).    In  Z.D.F.V.  among  others: — 


Appendix  IV  667 

Stubcl,   Reise  tiach   den  Diret    et  Tultil,   etc.,  with  map,   xii. ; 
Van  K-Zsitxen,  Journey  in  Gilead,  xiii. 

In  F.E.F.Q.,  Post,  Narrative  of  a  Scientific  Expedition  in  the 
Trans-Jordanic  Region  in  the  Spring  of  iZ^d,  vol.  for  1888. 

The   voUnnes   and   articles   on    the    inscriptions   of    Eastern 
Palestine  will  be  found  given  on  p.  15. 


APPENDIX  V 

ROADS    AND   WHEELED    VEHICLES    IN    SYRIA 
(See  p.  329) 

Judah's  progress  in  the  matter  of  chariots  is  interesting.  Joshua 
houghed  all  horses  and  burnt  all  chariots  taken  in  war  (Josh, 
xi.  6,  9).  David  houghed  most  of  the  horses,  but  kept  a  hundred 
for  himself  (2  Sam.  viii.  4).  Solomon  had  1400  chariots  which 
he  placed  in  chariot  cities,  and  also  with  the  king  at  Jerusalem 
(i  Kings  X.  26).  That  is  to  say,  there  would  be  but  lew  at 
Jerusalem,  where  the  ground  was  quite  unsuitable  for  their 
manoeuvre,  and  the  depots  of  them  were  at  cities  in  the  'Arabah 
or  Shephelah,  where  they  would  be  of  more  use.  There  was  a 
Beth  Mercabhoth  in  the  Negeb.  The  only  instances  of  chariots 
driving  into  Jerusalem  are  mentioned  p.  330,  But  see  also 
2  Sam.  xvi.,  where  Absalom  is  mentioned  as  having  chariots, 
whether  in  Jerusalem  is  uncertain  ;  and  Isa.  xxiii.,  where  the 
Assyrian  chariots  fill  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat. 

Wheeled  vehicles  drawn  by  oxen  were  used  in  agriculture  from 
the  earliest  times,  i  Sam.  vi.  10;  2  Sam.  vi.  3  (cf.  Amos  ii.  13, 
here,  perhaps,  rather  threshing-rollers).  As  a  nomadic  race,  who, 
when  they  settled,  settled  in  a  rough  hilly  country,  Israel  would 
not  soon  take  to  wheels ;  and  the  earliest  carts  or  waggons 
mentioned  in  the  Bible  came  from  Philistia  or  Egypt  (i  Sam.  vi. 
10;  Gen.  xlv.  19,  etc.).  Chariots  were  introduced  from  Meso- 
potamia, and  later  from  Egypt  (who  herself  had  the  chariot  and 
horse  from  Asia).  The  Syrians,  with  their  flat  country  south  of 
Damascus,  were  strong  in  chariots,  and  Samaria  lay  on  the 
main  road  between   Egypt  and   Damascus,   which   crossed  her 


668   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

north-west  corner,  and  was  used  by  chariots  {Travels  of  a?i 
Egyptian,  see  p.  152). 

Roads,  in  our  sense  of  the  term,  were  not  necessary  for  these 
waggons  and  chariots.  In  1891,  on  the  east  of  Jordan,  we  met 
a  number  of  Circassians  driving  bullock-carts  all  the  way  from 
Damascus  to  Jerash  and  Rabboth-Ammon.  But  artificial  roads 
of  some  kind  or  other  appear  to  have  existed  in  Palestine  from 
the  earliest  times.  The  npDO,  Authorised  Version  highway,  is 
literally  heaped  up,  often  only  for  temporary  purposes,  such  as 
the  visit  of  royalty,  cf.  Isa.  xlv.,  Ixii.  10  (I  have  seen  the  like 
on  the  visit  of  the  Khedive  Tewfik  to  Siout  in  Upper  Egypt  in 
1880);  but  also  for  permanent  use,  Num.  xx.  19;  Judges  xx. 
31;  I  Sam.  vi.  12;  i  Chron.  xxvi.  16;  Jer.  xxxi.  21.  Roads 
were  enjoined  to  be  made  to  the  cities  of  refuge  (Deut.  xix.  3). 

In  the  New  Testament,  outside  the  visions  of  Revelation, 
horses  and  chariots,  except  in  one  instance,  do  not  exist,  a 
curious  contrast  to  the  Old  Testament,  and  proof  of  the  pacific 
plebeian  character  of  the  kingdom  of  Him  who  came  riding  upon 
an  ass.  The  exception  is  the  chariot  of  the  treasurer  of  Queen 
Candace  (Acts  viii.  28  ff.). 

The  Romans  were  the  first  to  make  great  roads  in  Palestine, 
and  this  not  till  the  times  of  the  Antonines  in  the  second  half  of 
the  second  century.  The  milestones  are  chiefly  of  Antoninus 
Pius  and  Marcus  Aurelius.  The  roads  rendered  driving  easy 
over  all  the  land. 

After  the  Moslem  invasion  the  first  Khalifs  kept  up  the 
Roman  roads  in  Syria,  with  a  service  of  stage-coaches  and  posts. 
The  Latin  word  mi/e  was  adopted,  J.^^  \  El-Mil.  One  Arab 
milestone  has  been  discovered  on  the  road  between  Jerusalem 
and  Jericho,  at  Khan-el-Hatroura,  inscribed  as  placed  by  'the 
servant  of  God,  Abd-el-Melik,  prince  of  believers.  May  the 
mercy  of  God  be  to  him.  From  Damascus  to  this  milestone  is 
109  miles.'  This  was  the  Khalif  Abd-el-Melek  ibn  Merwan, 
65-86  of  the  Hejra,  builder  of  the  so-called  mosque  of  Omar. 
See  Clermont-Ganneau,  Recueil  d'Archeoiogie  Orientale,  201  ff. : 
'Une  Pierre  Milliaire  Arabe  de  Palestine  du  i^"  siecle  de  I'hegire.' 

In  the  times  of  the  Crusades,  '  the  royal  roads,  which  generally 
replaced  the  ancient   Roman  ways,  still   appear  to  have  been 


Appendix  V  669 

used  by  wheeled  vehicles.     As  for  others,  there  is  every  cause 
to  think  that  they  were  only  mule-paths.'  ^ 

The  decay  of  all  these  great  roads,  and  the  disappearance  of 
wheeled  vehicles  from  the  land — till  very  recently — was  due,  of 
course,  to  the  conquest  of  Syria  by  nomad  and  desert  tribes 
whose  only  means  of  locomotion  were  animals.  The  few  roads 
and  carriages  now  in  existence  are  entirely  of  Frank  or  Circassian 
origin.  There  is  the  splendid  Alpine  road  from  Beyrout  to 
Damascus,  with  branches,  and  good  roads  from  Jaffa  to  Jeru- 
salem, Jerusalem  to  Jericho  and  Hebron,  Jaffa  to  Nablus  (con- 
structing), and  Haifa  to  Nazareth ;  also  one  partly  made  from 
Damascus  along  the  Hajj  route.  Already  one  railway  is  opened 
from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem,  and  another  is  in  process  of  construction 
from  Haifa  to  Damascus. 

^  Rey,  Colonies  Franques,  254. 


ADDITIONAL  NOTES  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

*  ^*  Those  to  Chapter  IX.  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  that  chapter 

Pp.  8,  523,  525,  note  673. — The  Aneezeh.  Burton  spells  the  name 
'Anazeh  (so  also  Conder).     Wetzstein  {Keisebericht)  gives  it  as  'Anezeh. 

P.  13. — The  mediseval  belief  that  Palestine  was  the  central  province  of  the 
earth,  the  veiy  centre  being  found  in  Jerusalem,  is  well  illustrated  in  a  map 
of  Marino  Sanuto,  which  Mr.  Bartholomew  and  I  hope  to  reproduce  in  our 
Historical  Atlas  of  the  Holy  Land.  See  Bongar's  Gesta  Dei  Per  Francos, 
vol.  ii. 

P.  14. — Of  the  recently  discovered  Aramsean  inscriptions  in  Senjerli  the 
best  account  is  given  in  Die  Altsemitischen  Inschrifteri  von  Sendscherli,  von 
David  Ileinrich  Miiller;  Holder,  Vienna,  1893.  Cf.  Conder,  in  Contemporary 
Review  for  September  1894. 

P.  15,  note  I, — To  the  various  collection  of  inscriptions  from  the  East  of 
the  Jordan  there  is  now  to  be  added  that  by  the  Rev.  W,  Evving  in  the 
P.E.F.Q.  for  January  1895. 

P.  16,  note  I. — To  the  list  of  historical  and  geographical  authorities  in 
the  Grseco-Roman  period  in    Syria   add    Hcinrich    Kiepert's  Formae  Orbis 


670    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Antiqtiae  (Berlin  :  Dietrich  Reimer),  the  first  part  of  which  has  just  been 
pubhshed.     The  letterpress  is  in  English. 

P.  20. — I  understand  that  for  the  present  the  construction  of  the  railway 
from  Haifa  to  Damascus  has  been  suspended. 

P.  78,  top  of  note. — 'Ain  Sinia.  Conder  {Critical  Review,  iv.  293)  says 
there  is  a  good  spring  to  north-east  of  village.     See  P.E.F.  Me?n.  ii.  291. 

P.  130. — Conder  doubts  whether  Dor,  now  Tanturah,  is  the  Merla  of  the 
Crusaders. 

P.  135,  note  2. — For  the  converse  view  of  Syria  from  Cyprus,  see  Felix 
Fabri,  P.P.  T.  i.  198. 

P.  153. — On  the  roads  through  Philistia,  compare  Plate  IV.  As  stated  in 
the  text  (cf.  also  p.  193),  there  was  undoubtedly  a  road  from  Ashdod  by  the 
modern  Burkah  and  Beshshit  to  Ekron  and  Ramleh,  and  it  ought,  therefore, 
to  be  marked  on  the  maps,  though  not  so  prominently  as  the  main  road  from 
Ashdod  to  Jamnia. 

P.  157,  note  4. — Compare  Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  book  11.  ;  Felix  Fabri, 
P.P.T.  ii.  470, 

P.  159. — The  Rev.  Thomas  G.  Selby  (now  of  Liverpool)  informs  me,  'in 
connection  with  the  descriptions  of  the  Plague  in  Hong-Kong  in  the  early 
part  of  the  present  year  (1894),  that  there  were  swellings  round  the  loins  and 
under  the  armpits,  I  should  think  identical  in  character,  as  far  as  one  can 
judge,  with  the  tumours  which  afflicted  the  Philistines.  The  outbreak  of 
the  Plague  was  preceded  by  a  frightful  mortality  among  the  rats.  The 
Plague  in  Central  China,  nine  or  ten  years  ago,  was  also  preceded  by  such 
foreshadowing  of  its  approach  in  the  death  of  rats,  etc.  Was  the  Plague  in 
Ashdod  preceded  by  some  such  phenomenon,  and  does  the  making  of  the 
votive  images  of  golden  mice  point  to  some  such  incident  in  the  event  ?' 

P.  162  ff. — For  a  very  instructive  paper  on  Elijah,  St.  George,  and  El 
Khudr,  see  the  Z.D.P.  V.  for  1S94. 

P.  234,  note  4. — To  authorities  on  Lachish  excavated,  add  Bliss,  A 
Mound  of  Many  Cities,  or  Tell  el  Hesy  Excavated,  with  upwards  of  250 
illustrations,  published  for  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  1894. 

P.  243,  note  I. — Conder  is  doubtful  whether  the  inscriptions  are  older 
than  the  twelfth  century,  but  does  not  give  reasons  {Critical  Review,  iv. 

295)- 

Pp.  279-280,  note  on  Dhaheriyah.  —  In  his  review  of  this  volume  in  the 
Academy,  Professor  Sayce  (cf.  P.E.F. Q.  January  1893)  says:  'The  little 
information  given  as  to  the  site  of  the  city,  i.e.  Kiriath-Sepher,  in  the  Old 
Testament  seems  to  exclude  its  identification  with  Dhaheriyeh,  where,  more- 
over, Professor  Petrie  found  no  remains  of  early  date.  The  name  Debir 
more  naturally  signifies  "  Sanctuary,"  as  in  i  Kings  vi.  5,  than  "Back."' 
With  this,  however,  I  cannot  agree.  As  Dr.  Sayce  goes  on  to  point  out, 
W.  Max  Miiller  has  suggested  Beth-Thupar  of  The  Travels  of  a  Mohar  as 
equivalent  to  the  Hebrew  Beth-Sopher,  '  House  of  the  Scribe,'  and,  sup- 
posing that  the  writer  transposed  Kiriath  and  Beth,  identifies  Beth-Thupar 
with  Kiriath-Sepher,  which  he  accordingly  points  Kiriath- Sopher,  in  contra- 


Additional  Notes  to  the  Second  Editioti      671 

diction  both  of  the  Massoretic  and  Septuagint  texts.  In  this  Dr.  Sayce  agrees 
with  Dr.  Miillcr.  I  cannot,  however,  but  think  that  the  several  steps  by 
which  they  reach  their  conclusion  are  too  precarious  to  be  trusted. 

P.  425,  note  I. — For  Beth  She'arim  Conder  proposes  Slia'rah,  on  the 
Tabor  Plateau. 

P.  46S,  note  2. — To  the  depressions  of  land  below  the  level  of  the  sea,  add 
that  in  the  Liukchun  oasis  in  Central  Asia.  According  to  the  Izvestiya  of 
the  Russian  Geographical  Society,  No.  i,  1894  (quoted  in  The  Scottish 
Geographical  Alagazitie,  vol.  x.  p.  542),  the  salt  lake,  Bojaite,  which  forms 
the  lowest  part  of  the  Liukchun  hollow,  is  about  330  feet  below  Turfan, 
which  is  itself  160  feet  below  sea-level. 

P.  490,  note  4.  — I  notice,  however,  that  J.  S.  Poloner  mentions  {P.F.T. 
ed.  p.  27)  that  he  saw  lions  in  1421. 

P.  502,  line  2. — On  liuoyancy  of  Dead  Sea,  cf.  Josephus  v.  Wars,  ix.  To 
references  in  note  2  add  Aristotle,  Meteorics,  book  11. 

P.  503,  line  6. — On"  surroundings  of  Dead  Sea,  cf.  Felix  Fabri  ed. 
P.P.  T.  ii,  164. 

Pp.  505-508. — The  site  of  the  Cities  of  the  Plain.  With  regard  to  the 
statements  on  p.  505  that  the  question  of  this  site  is  insoluble,  and  on  p.  508 
that  I  wonder  at  the  confidence  with  which  it  has  been  decided,  whether  for 
north  or  south  of  the  Dead  Sea,  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Birch  has  kindly  favoured 
me  with  a  statement  of  his  reasons  for  the  northern  situation.  They  are 
mainly  those  I  have  stated  on  p.  506,  with  emphasis  laid  on  the  opinion  that 
the  '  Kikkar  '  and  '  the  Kikkar  of  Jordan '  are  names  not  applicable  to  the 
south  of  the  Dead  Sea  ;  and  with  these  additions,  that  a  Zoar  on  the  south- 
eastern edge  of  the  Dead  Sea  would  not  be  visible  from  Pisgah  (Deut. 
xxxiv.  3),  and  that,  '  in  Isaiah  xv.  4,  5,  6  and  Jeremiah  xlviii.  34,  Zoar  (near 
Sodom)  is  connected  rather  with  places  towards  the  north  of  Moab  than 
towards  the  south.'  Now,  except  that  I  do  not  feel  the  impossibility  of 
the  extension  of  the  name  Kikkar  of  Jordan  to  the  south  end  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  just  as  the  present  name  Ghor  is  so  extended,  I  grant  the  strength  of 
Mr.  Birch's  reasons.  They  are  strong ;  yet  so  also  are  the  reasons  of 
Clermont  Ganneau  and  others  for  the  south  (see  pp.  506,  507).  And  that 
is  why,  though  I  might  favour  the  one  rather  than  the  other,  that  I  still 
feel  neither  side  can  afford  to  be  dogmatic. 

Pp.  515-516. — The  relative  passage  in  Josephus  is  vii.  Wars,  viii.  ix. 

P.  521. — The  goddess  Hygeia.  Cf.  Mr.  Ewing's  inscriptions.  No.  124, 
P.E.F.Q.  January  1895. 

P.  535. — The  Belka'.  This  summer  the  Turkish  Government  has  become 
effective  south  of  the  Arnon,  and  a  Kaimakam  with  a  garrison  has  been 
established  in  Kerak.     This  modifies  also  the  note  to  p.  533. 

P.  537,  note  3  (continued  on  538). — Some  of  the  great  castles  in  Gilead 
date  probably  in  part  from  the  Crusades.  Salt  and  Rubud  may  have  been 
held  by  the  Franks  for  some  time.  The  Crusaders  have  left  their  marks  on 
the  ruins  about  Heshbon. 

P.  53S. — On  the  name  Coele-Syria,  as  understood  in  the  Middle  Ages,  see 


672     The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 

Felix  Fabri,  F.P.T.  i.  198,  where  it  seems  to  be  taken  as  equal  to  Syria 
north  of  Galilee. 

P.  586,  note  2. — Conder  (Critical  Revieiv,  iv.  290)  thinks  the  site  he 
proposes  for  Mahanaim  suitable.  '  The  locality  is  well  watered,  and  contains 
several  important  ruins.' 

Pp.  623-624,  note  3. — The  name  Nabatean  survived  for  some  years  the 
fall  of  the  Nabatean  kingdom.  '  Annelus  the  Nabatean '  occurs  on  an 
inscription  of  140  A.D.     Wadd.  2437  ;  Ewing,  94. 

P.  628. — To  note  i  add  :  especially  Wadd.  2457,  Ewing,  74.     To  list  of 
Nabatean  deities  add:  Adad,  Ewing,  51,  from  Khabab ;  Ogenes  at  'Ary, 
Wadd.  2440,   Ewing,  99 ;  Heracles  at  Nejran  of  the  Manemenoi,  Wadd 
2428,  Ewing,  114. 

P.  629. — To  note  3  add  :  Ewing,  44,  an  inscription  from  Es-Sunamein. 

P.  633. — To  note  i  add  :  De  Rossi  suggests  that  XMF  stands  for  X/)1(tt6s, 
Mt'xa'fjX,  Pa/SptrjX. 

P.  647,  second  paragraph. — The  Bawabat  Allah,  the  ^outhern  gateway  of 
Damascus,  is  actually  called  in  Turkish  Misr  Kapusi,  or  Egyptian  Gate. 
See  INIrs.  Burton's  Inner  Life  of  Syria,  ed.  1884,  p.  51. 


Note  on  the  Spelling  and  Derivation  of  the  name  LejA. 

In  the  First  Edition  this  name  was  spelt  with  double  'j,'  thus  Lejjah,  for 

which  form  a  suitable  derivation  might  have  been  found  in  the  Arabic  ^^,  Lujj, 

'a  mass  of  water,'  'a  great  depth  of  sea,'  and  by  comparison  'a  rough  place 
on  a  mountain'  (Kamus),  see  pp.  615  f.  Conder  also  gives  Lejja  as  a  North 
Syrian  word  for  basalt  {Critical  Review,  iv.  289).  But  the  pronunciation  of 
the  name  appears,  according  to  all  the  best  authorities,  to  be  indubitably 

with  one  'j' — Lejah,  El-Lejah,  L^OJ^,  the  accent  on  the  last  syllable.  So 
Burckhardt,  '  Ledjah  ' ;  Wetzstein,  '  Lega' ' ;  Burton,  '  Lejah ' ;  Merrill, 
'  Lejah  ' ;  Fischer  and  Guthe's  map,  '  El-Ledschah  ' ;  and  the  Rev.  W. 
Ewing  (in  a  private  letter  to  myself),  '  El-Leja'.'     This  form  may  very  well  be 

the  same  as  the  Arabic  noun  \  |,  'a  refuge  or  asylum  '  (Kam).  And  the 
North  Syrian  common  noun  for  *  basalt,'  according  to  Conder,  '  Lejja,'  would 
in  that  case  be  a  derivative  from  the  name  of  the  region  from  which  North 
Syria  chiefly  derives  its  great  basalt  mill-stones,  see  p.  614. 


INDEX 


AiiANA,  see  Barada,  46,  642  ^. 
'Abarim,   Mountains  of  the,  53,  548, 

553- 
Abel.     For  names  compounded  with 

Abel,  see  Appendix  i. 
Abel-meholah,  581  w. 
Abila  of  Decapolis,  594,  600,  602. 
Abilene,  Tetrarchy  of  Lysanias,  547. 
'Abu  Zaburah,  130. 
Acca  or  Acre.     See  Ptolemais. 
Acre,  Plain  of,  3S0. 
'Admah,  505. 
'Adullam,  229. 
'Adummim,  265. 
'Adwan,  10,  489  n.,  526. 
Agrippa  i.,  or  Herod  Agrippa,  61^  ff. 
Agrippa  11.,  622  ff. 
'Ai,  252 J?:,  263. 
'Ain.       For    names   beginning   with 

'Ain  see  note  on  pp.  77-79. 
'Ajalon,  vale  of,  210,  250^. 
'Ajlun,  district  of,  536,  553. 

town  of,  522  11.  2,  5<^7' 

Alexander  the  Great,  13,  179,  183^, 

347.  ^93>- 
Alexander    Janneus,     154;    captures 
Gaza,  184  ;  in  Galilee,  414  «.  4  ; 
conquest  of  Moab,  568 ;  in  Gilead, 

589/  . 
Alexandrium,  a  stronghold  of  Samaria, 

352/ 
Allat,  a  Nabatean  deity,  62%/. 
'Amalek,    in    Ephraim,    332    n.  ;    in 

Negeb,  277  n.  4. 
Amalekites,  282. 
Amathus,  5S9. 
Amnion,  558,  579,  etc.    See  Rabbath- 

Ammon. 
Amorite,  Mount  of  the,  53,  652. 
Amos  and  Tekoa,  315. 
Ananiah,  253  n.  4. 
Anathoth,  253  n.  4,  315. 


'Aneezeh,  8,  523,  525  n. 

Anthedon,  1S9. 

Anlioch,  spread  of  Faith  to,  37  ;  falls 

to  the  Mohammedans,  38  ;  created 

by  the  Orontes,  46  ;  and  Damascus, 

647. 
Antiochi,  records  left  by,  14. 
Anti-Lebanon.     See  Lebanon. 
Antipatris,  165,  256  n.  i. 
Aphek,    in   Western   Palestine,    224 

n.  2,  350,  400/: 
Aphek,  East  of  Lake  of  Galilee,  427, 

459>  580,  582. 
'Arabah,  47,  52,  484,  507  n.  3,  657. 
'Arab-el  'Amarin,  9. 
Arabians,  282. 
Arabia,    desert,    3  ;     peninsula,    3  \ 

boundaries   of  Arabian  world,    7  ; 

immigrations,  8  ;  tribes,  8,  10. 
Arabia,  Roman  Province  of,  622,  ff.  ; 

the    Arabia    of    Paul,     547,    620 ; 

Christianity  in,  62,2  ff. 
Arabs  in  Eastern  Palestine,  525. 
Arad,  277  w.,  278. 
'Arak  el  Emir,  56S. 
'Aram  and  David,  579  ;  and  Samaria, 

580;  defeat  of,  581  ;  of  Damascus, 

553- 

'Arbela,  in  Galilee,  Irbid,  427. 

in  Gilead,   Irbid,  526,  536,  5S7. 

Archelais,  354. 

Architecture  of  the  Decapolis,  602  ; 
roads,  bridges,  streets,  603  ;  amphi- 
theatres and  temples,  604,  605 ; 
Naumachia,  a,  604 ;  of  Hauran, 
614,  629;  its  originality,  630, 
636. 

'Ard-el  Betheniych,  553. 

Aretas,  184,  569/.,  619/. 

'Argob,  551,  553. 

Aristobulus  i.,  414  «.  4. 

Armageddon,  Battle  of,  409. 


2  U 


6/4   ^-^^  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


'Arnon,  the,  533,   535,  553  ;    Israel's 

passage  of,  557  ;  as  a  frontier,  558. 

'Aro'er,  the  Beeisheba  of  the  East, 

557,  559- 

Arpha,  in  Eastern  Palestine,  541  «. 

'Arrabeh,  327  n. 

'Arsuf,  129,  130,  164. 

Art  of  Syria,  23. 

'Ashdod,  harbour  of,  131  ;  the  town, 
192. 

Asia  Minor  and  Syria,  22,  26  ;  spread 
of  Gospel  to,  37. 

'Askalon,  harbour  of,  131  ;  position 
of,  189  ;  during  the  Crusades,  190. 

'Askar,  yi^  ff-     ^'-^  Sychar. 

Assyria,  Empire  of,  3  ;  relation  to 
Palestine,  6. 

Assyrians,  their  remains  in  Palestine, 
14 ;  Sennacherib's  campaign,  235 
ff.  ;  the  Assyrian  advance  on  Jeru- 
salem, 292  ;  Siege  of  Samaria, 
347  ;  in  Galilee,  424,  430. 

Ataroth,  567  n.  i,  568  «. 

Athi,  a  Nabatean  deity,  6287^ 

Aumos,  a  Nabatean  deity,  628  f.  ; 
man's  name,  629  n.  2. 

Auranitis,  541,  553.     See  Hauran. 

'Athlit,  130. 

Atabyrusj  Mount,  22  n. 

'Aujeh,  the  river  near  Joppa,  divides 
Sharon,  148;  military  value,  154; 
as  a  frontier  between  Samaria  and 
Judah,  248  f.  ;  river  near  Jericho, 
as  a  frontier,  249. 

A  vim,  174. 

'Awaj,  river  near  Damascus,  probably 
Pharpar,  642. 

'Ayun  Musa,  564. 

Aziz,  a  Nabatean  deity,  628. 

Azmaveth,  252. 

Azekah,  229  n.  i. 

Baalim,  worship  of,  47^, 
Baal-Gad,  474. 
Baal-Hermon,  474  n. 
Baal-Judah.     See  Kirjath-Jearim. 
Baal-Me'on,  567  n.  i. 
Baal-Samin,  628. 
Baal-Shalisha,  351  ;/.  2, 
Baal-zebub,  193. 
Balaam,  stations  of,  565/! 
Balsam,  266,  487,  522  n.  6. 
Barada,  the,  46,  642. 
Barak,  392  n.  6,  393  n.  2. 


Bashan,  53,  549,  553;  Israel  in,  575/. 

Bashan,  Hills  of,  550. 

Batanea,  540/;,  553. 

Bathyra,  618. 

Battles  and  Battle-fields  of  Arsuf,  154, 
156;  in  Ajalon,  210  ff.;  Gezer, 
216/.  ;  Eben-ezer,  224;  Elah,  227 
/.  ;  Mareshah,  233  ;  Eltekeh,  236  n. 
I  ;  Bethsur,  288;  in  Benjamin,  290 
ff.;  betweenAbsalomand David, 335 
n.,  580;  of  Beisan  or  Pella,  359;  of 
the  Kishon,  2>9Aff-  5  Well  of  Harod, 
397  ff-  ;  of  Gilboa,  401  ff.  ;  of 
Megiddo,  405  ff.  ;  Hattin,  441  ; 
on  the  Jordan,  491  ;  of  Siddim, 
506  ;  of  the  Yarmuk,  589. 

Be'er,  561. 

Be'er  Lahai  Roi,  283  n.  2. 

Be'eroth,  252. 

Beersheba,  284;  meaning  of  the  name, 
285  ;  history  of  the  place,  285. 

country  south  of,  280. 

Beisan,  day  of,  359.     See  Bethshan. 

Beit  Atab,  222  n. 

Beit  Dajun,  164. 

Beit  Dejan,  332  n. 

Beit  Jibrin,  231  ;  and  the  Romans, 
231  ;  and  the  crusades,  232. 

caves   of,  242  ff.  ;    martyrs   of, 

2i\lff.  ;  churches,  244. 

Beit  Iksa,  224  11.  2. 

Beit-Qubr,  267  n. 

Beit-Rima,  254  n.  7. 

Bela  or  Zoar,  505. 

Belfort,  426  71.  I. 

Belka',  the,  535,  548,  553  ;  climate 
of,  56,  520. 

Belvoir  or  Kaukab-el-Hawa,  359,  408. 

Beni  Humar,  9. 

Beni  Jafn,  9,  627. 

Beni  Mesaid,  526. 

Beni  Sab,  9. 

Beni  Saf,  9. 

Benjamin,  territory  of,  290. 

Berachah,  272. 

Berekeh  in  the  Lejjah,  543. 

Bes'ananim,  396  ti.  i. 

Betenoble,  214. 

Beth-abara,  496  n.  I. 

Bethany,  306. 

beyond  Jordan,  496  n.   i ;  542. 

Beth-car,  224  «.  2. 

Beth-Dagon,  403  «.     See  Beit  Dejan. 

Bethel,    119;   as   a  frontier   fortress, 


Index 


675 


250  ff.,  290  /.  ;  the  incoming 
roads,  290 ;  a  stronghold  of 
Samaria,  352. 

Beth-haram  or  Beth-haran,  488  «.  i. 

Beth-horons,  Upper  and  Lower,  210 
«.,  254,  291. 

Beth-Jashan,  224  n.  2. 

Bethlehem,  119,  318/ 

Bethsaida,  457/. 

Bethshan,  357  ff. ;  or  the  key  of 
Western  Palestine,  358  ;  a  menace 
to  Western  Palestine,  generally  in 
foreign  hands,  358 ;  capture  by 
Saladin,  359 ;  a  city  of  the  De- 
capolis,  360.  See  also  ch.  xxviii.; 
on  its  names,  363. 

Beth-She'arim,  425. 

Beth-shemesh,  193,  219;  the  ark,  224. 

Beth-shittah,  397  n.  i,  400. 

Bethsur,  288. 

Bethulia,  a  stronghold  of  Samaria, 
356. 

Beyrout  and  Damascus,  426,  642. 

Bezek,  a  stronghold  of  Samaria,  336 
n.  I,  354/. 

Biljle,  evidence  of  invasions  of  Pales- 
tine, 15  ;  geographical  accuracy  of 
not  necessarily  proof  of  historical 
accuracy,  loS  ;  authenticity  of  Bible 
and  geography,  logf. 

Bithron,  5S6  ti.  2. 

Blackmail,  levied  by  David,  307  ;  by 
Bedouin  in  Esdraelon,  384 ;  in 
Eastern  Palestine,  526/. 

Boils  and  the  Plague,  159. 

Bosra,  594,  601,  6 1 7,  62 1,  623^. 

Bozez,  250  ;/.  4. 

Busr  el  Hariri,  536,  618  n  i. 

Buttauf,  418  «  2. 

C<«SAREA,   from   Mount   Ebal,    121, 

122;  foundation  and  history,  138^ 
Philippi,  foundation  and  history 

of,  475  ;  Jesus  in  the  coasts  of,  476. 
Callirrhoe,  571. 
Canaan,  the  name,  4_/l 
Canary  Isles,  25. 
Capernaum,  456 ;    controversy  as  to 

site,  id.  n.  2  ;   on  the  Via  Maris, 

429. 
Caphtor.     See  Kaphtor. 
Carthage,  foundation  of,  24 ;  fall  of, 

25- 
Carmel,  50,   121,   122;  passages  by, 


150  ;  Napoleon  on  these,  151  ;  their 
historical  effect,  152  ;  description 
of,  338^.  ;  and  Elijah,  340 ;  view 
from,  340. 

Carmel  in  Judah,  306,  317  «. 

Casphon  in  Eastern  Palestine,  589. 

Cavea  Roob,  528,  «.  2. 

Central  or  Western  Range  of  Pales- 
tine, 47,  49,  50,  53,  119,  247,  279; 
watershed  on,  48;  modifications  of, 
49  ;  names  of,  651  (jf. 

Chateau  d'Arnauld,  214. 

Chinnereth,  443,  n.  i. 

Chittim.     See  Cyprus. 

Chorazin,  456. 

Chosroes  II.,  12,  n.  4. 

Christianity,  and  the  geography,  37, 
114^;  and  Paganism,  37,  188, 
241,  631-635;  and  Islam,  38,  114 
ff".  ;  in  Lydda,  161  ;  in  the  Philis- 
tine cities,  186,  1S7/.  ;  in  the 
Shephelah,  239  ff.  ;  in  Bethshan, 
361/.  ;  Esdraelon,  407/;  Eastern 
Palestine,  62,1  ff.  ;  in  Syria  to-day, 
its  churches  and  missions,  40/". 

Christians  in  Syria,  persecution  of, 
16,  38,  241/,  361,  632. 

Circassian  colonies  in  Palestine,  li, 
20. 

Cities  of  the  Plain,  the,  505  ff.  •  his- 
torical reality  of  their  destruction, 

509- 

Climate,  differences  in,  56  ;  (the  rains, 
64,  76  ;  hail  and  snow,  64  ;  mists 
and  dews,  65  ;  drought,  65,  76 ; 
winds,  66  ;  summer  west  wind,  66; 
Sirocco,  67  y";  temperature,  69;) 
effect  of,  72 ;  not  mechanically 
regular,  73 ;  and  Providence,  74 ; 
in  Deuteronomy,  74  ;  in  Amos  and 
Isaiah,  75  ;  summer  wells.  77. 

Coast,  the,  127-144;  in  Scripture, 
132  ;  in  history,  133. 

Crele-Syria,  origin  and  history  of  the 
name,  538>.553- 

Coins,  authorities  on  Syrian,  14.  See 
also  under  the  various  towns,  espe- 
cially Ctesarea,  Sebaste,  Csesarea 
Philippi,  Tiberias,  the  Decapolis, 
etc. 

Crete,  135,  170.     .5"^^  Caphtor. 

Crusades,  13 ;  authorities  on,  17 ; 
their  impression  on  Syria,  17,  39; 
and  the  coast,    128;  'Athlit,  130: 


676   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


Csesarea,  144  ;  passage  of  Carmel, 
150  ;  and  St.  George,  162/.  ;  in  the 
Shephelah,  213^.,  227,  232/.  ;  in 
Samaria,  349,  352  ;  on  Esdraelon, 
359/.,  408;  Battle  of  Hattin,  440 
>^.  ;  on  the  Upper  Jordan,  480;  at 
Zoar,  507,  n.  ;  in  Eastern  Palestine, 
S37>  ''•  3  ;  in  Antioch  and  Damas- 
cus, 648. 

Crusaders  and  the  population  of 
Palestine,  10,  11. 

Cyprus,  22,  26  ;  spread  of  Gospel  to, 
37  ;  ancient  Chittim,  135. 

Dabaritta,  394,  n.  2. 

Uagon  and  the  Dragon  of  St.  George, 

163,  # 

Damascus,  spread  of  Faith  to,  37 ; 
fall  to  Mohammedanism,  38 ; 
created  by  the  Abana,  46,  642  ;  its 
sea-ports,  426 ;  and  Israel,  579- 
582  ;  in  Decapolis,  599 ;  and  the 
Nabateans,  619;  and  the  Romans, 
616,  617,  n.  2,  620;  chap.  XXX. — 
antiquity  of,  641  ;  situation  of, 
642  ;  stability  of,  643  ;  approach 
to,  644 ;  bazaars  of,  646 ;  and 
Antioch,  647  ;  great  roads  from, 
647  ;  religious  significance  of,  648. 

Dan,  tribe  of,  in  Vale  of  Sorek,  220  ; 
Tell-el-Kady  or  Banias,  473,  480/ 

'  Dan  to  Beersheba,'  285. 

Daphne  or  Tell-el-Kady,  473. 

Darom  or  Daroma,  52. 

Dathema,  588/ 

David,  in  the  Shephelah,  211,  215; 
in  Adullam,  229  ;  in  Ke'ilah,  230  ; 
and  Goliath,  227  ;  in  the  wilderness 
of  Judcea,  306/".,  316;  his  dirge, 
404  ;  in  Eastern  Palestine,  579/. 

Dead  Sea,  the,  chap,  xxiii. — valley 
of,  261,  499;  saltness  of,  500; 
beach  of,  502 ;  history  on,  504  ; 
Ezekiel's  vision  of,  511  ;  end  of  the 
Jordan,  46  ;  Jordan  valley  at,  46. 

Debir,  279. 

Deborah,  392  ff. 

Deburieh,  394. 

Decapolis,  the,  chap,  xxviii. — its 
origin  and  date,  595 ;  an  Anti- 
Semitic  league,  596  ;  geography  of, 
597  ;  'region  of,'  553,  601  ;  archi- 
tecture of,  602  ;  gods  of,  605  ;  con- 
stitution   of,    605,    see    also  594  ; 


borders  of,  601 ;    Greek  literature 

in,    607  ;    and  the  Gospels,  607  ; 

intercourse    between,    and    Jews, 

608. 
Deir  Aban,  224,  n.  2. 
Deir  Dubban,  244. 
Deir-el-Bedawiyeh,  244. 
Deir-el-Botur,  244. 
Deir-el-Hawa,  219,  n.  i. 
Deir-el-Mohallis,  244. 
Dews,  65. 

Dibon  or  Daibon,  5607".,  568  n.  i. 
Dion  of  the  Decapolis,  593,  598,  599. 
Diospolis.     See  Lydda. 
Dirge  on  death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan, 

404/. 
D'mer,  623,  n.  4. 
Docus.     See  Duk. 
Dor  or  Dora,   129  n.  2,  130,  3S9/., 

405  n.  2. 
Dothan,   Plain   of,    151  ;    stronghold 

of  Samaria,  356. 
Drought,  65,  76. 
Duk  or  Docus,  250  «.  2. 
Du  Sara,  a  Nabatean  deity,  628. 

Eastern  Palestine,  chaps,  xxiv.-xxx. 
— plateau  of,  519;  health  of,  520; 
waters  of,  521  ;  fertility  of,  522 ; 
pastures  and  herds  of,  523 ;  ex- 
posure to  desert,  525  ;  a  land  of 
opulence  and  insecurity,  527;  under- 
ground cities  of,  528  ;  Greeks  and 
Romans  in,  530 ;  divisions  and 
names  of,  chap.  xxv.  ;  dividing 
rivers  of,  533  ;  natural  divisions  of, 
534 ;  divisions  and  names  of  to- 
day, SZSff-  j  divisions  and  names 
of  Greek  Period,  the  time  of  Christ, 
538^  ;  divisions  and  names  in  Old 
Testament  times,  548^.  ;  compara- 
tive table  of,  553 ;  and  Israel, 
chaps,  xxvi.-xxvii.  ;  under  David 
and  Solomon,  579  ;  Maccabees  and, 
588 ;  under  Alexander  Janneus, 
589 ;  under  the  Romans,  chaps, 
xxviii. -xxix.;  Greek  settlements  in, 

593- 
Eastern  Range,  48,  49,  50,  53,  54, 

chap.  xxiv.  ;  534,  550,  562. 
Eben-ezer,  224. 
Edh-Dhaheriyah,  279/. 
Edrei,  under  ground,  528  «.  2,  576, 

601. 


Index 


677 


Eglon,  the  place,  202  n.  i,  234;  the 
king,  274  n. 

Egypt,  centre  of  empire,  6,  8  ;  home 
of  plague,  I57#. 

Ekron,  193,  21S. 

El-Ahma  Plain,  440  n.  I, 

i;iah.  Vale  of,  2zbff. 

El-burj,  214  «.  I. 

Elcaleh,  567  n.  I. 

Eleazar  or  Eleasar,  422  «.,  515/". 

Eleutheropolis.    See  Beit  Gibrin,  231. 

El-Ghuta,  553,  643. 

El-Jib.     See  Gibeah. 

Elijah  the  Tishbite,  27,  340,  435, 
493.  5S0. 

Elisha,  582. 

Elkesites,  632  n.  i. 

El-Mushennef,  619  n,  4. 

Eltekeh,  236. 

El  Yemen,  4. 

Emmaus,  Amwas  in  Shephelah,  214. 

at  Tiberias,  450. 

En-Nukra,  536/.,  553. 

Engedi,  269/.,  512. 

Ephraim,  Mount,  53,  121,  652,  chap, 
xvi.,  xvii. ;  forest  of,  335  «,  2; 
city  of.     See  Taiyibeh. 

Ephrath,  Ephrata,  318,  319  n. 

Es-Salt.     See  Salt. 

Esdraelon,  Plain  of,  49,  50,  52,  54, 
121,  379;  and  Samaria,  ch.  xix ; 
three  sections  of,  3S0  ;  names  of 
the  plain,  384 ;  and  Sharon,  388  ; 
fortresses  of,  389  ;  gateways  of, 
390  ;  history  of,  391 ;  Saul  and  Phi- 
listines on,  400  ff.  ;  pageant  of, 
406  ;  Syrians  on,  406  ;  Romans  on, 
407,  410;  Early  Christians  on,  407  ; 
Moslems  on,  407,  408 ;  Crusades 
on,  408  ;  Napoleon  on,  409. 

'Eshtaol,  218. 

'Eshtemoa,  317  n. 

Esh-Sham,  3. 

Es-Su'et,  528  n.  2,  537  n.  3. 

Es-Sunamein,  inscriptions,  623,  630. 

Ethiopia,  8 ;  Ethiopians,  12. 

Euphrates,  3,  6,  7,  534,  642. 

Europe,  present  influence  upon  Syria, 

European   settlements  in   Syria,    16, 

17. 
Ezekiel,  Vision  of  Dead  Sea,  511. 

FenIsh^  Philistine,  170  w. 


Ferata,  329  n.  3,  351  n.  2. 

Fer'on,  a  stronghold  of  Samaria,  350. 

Fertility  of  Palestine,  76  ;  effect  on 
nomads,  85  ;  religious  conse- 
quences of,  88 ;  civilising  conse- 
quences of,  85. 

Feshkah,  263,  265,  277  ;  and  Pisgah, 
546  n.  I. 

Feudal  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  17, 123. 

'  Field,  The,'  80. 

Fik,  427,  581  71.  I. 

Filistin,  name,  4. 

Fords  of  Jordan  ;  at  Jericho,  266  ;  in 
Ephraim,  337  ;  in  general,  486  ; 
near  Beisan,  4S6  n.  i. 

Forests,  80,  148  ;  in  Gilead,  522. 

Fortresses  of  Samaria,  345  ff. 

Fourbelet,  or  Afarbala,  360  «.  I. 

Frontiers  bet  ween  Judcea  and  Samaria, 
natural,  248  ;  political,  250  ;  from 
721  B.C.  to  the  Exile,  252  ;  after  the 
Exile,  253;  under  the  Maccabees, 
255  ;  under  the  Romans,  255  ;  in 
the  time  of  Christ,  256. 

in    Eastern    Palestine,    chap. 

XXV. 

Fuleh,  401,  406  n.  5. 
P'ureidis,  319  n. 


Gabinius,  129  n.  I. 

Gadara,  459  ff.,  593,  597,  599,  602, 
617. 

Gad  and  Reuben,  566. 

Galil,  413,  415. 

Galilee,  ch.  xx. ,  its  name,  413  ;  of  the 
Gentiles,  413  ;  of  the  Jews,  414  ; 
boundaries  of,  415  ;  divisions  of, 
416 ;  and  the  Lebanons,  417  ; 
water  of,  418 ;  fertility  of,  419  ; 
trees  in,  419;  culture  of,  420;  popu- 
lation of,  420  ;  volcanic  elements 
in,  421  ;  political  geography  of, 
422  ;  history  of,  423  f. ;  roads  of, 
425^; 'way  ofthe  sea,'428;  envi- 
ronment of,  431  ;  lake  of,  chap, 
xxi. ;  features  of,  439.  See  Lake  of 
Galilee. 

Gamala,  459,  590. 

Gaulanitis,  541,  553. 

Gath,  194;  site  of,  195/. 

Gaza,  181  ff.;  and  the  Desert,  182; 
and  Egypt,  184  ;  and  Israel,  185  ; 
'  which  is  desert,'  186  ;  and  Christi- 


678   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


anity,  187  (occupied  by  Alexander, 

184  ;  by  Napoleon,  1S4). 
Gazara.     See  Gazer. 
Geba,  a  stronghold  of  Samaria,  356. 
Gennesaret,  origin  of  the  name,  443 

n.    I. 
Geographical  accuracy  of  Bible,  107  ; 

and  historical  accuracy,   108  ;  and 

faith,  107^. 
Geography   and    biblical    narratives, 

108,  276. 
Geography  and  Stade's  theories,  274/^ 
Geography  and  moral  forces,  113,  134. 
Gerasa,  594,  598,  599,  602,  604^^. 
Gergesa,  459. 
Gerizim,    119,    120,    334.      See   also 

chap,  xviii. ;  not  Moriah,  334  n.  2. 
Geshur,  548  w.  9,  553. 
Gezer,  or   Gazar,    215  y.;   or   Mont 

Gisart,  217. 
Ghabaghib,  65,  520  n.  7. 
Ghassanides,  9,  627.     ^ee  Beni  Jafn. 
Ghor,  the,  47,  54,  482  ;  divisions  and 

names  of,   482  ;   fertility  of,  483  ; 

limits  of,  507  n.  3. 
Ghuta,  643^ 
Gibbethon,  351. 
Gibeon,  250^,  210  n.  2. 
Gideon  on  Esdraelon,  397. 
Gilead,  the  name  and  territory,  548 

/.;  history  and  characteristics,  chap. 

xxvii. ;  Israel's  proper  territory,  577; 

and  early  history  of  Israel,   579 ; 

captivity  of,  582  ;  in  the  Prophets, 

582  ;  uncertainty  of  ancient  sites, 

583  ff. ;  later  historical  sites  in,  5S7. 
Gilead,  Mount,  48,  53/,  549,  etc. 
Gilgal,    near    Jericho,    276  f.;    the 

stronghold  of    Samaria,    352,  494 

n.  z;    z.   place-name   on    Sharon, 

351  w.  2. 
Gimzo,  202  n. 
Golan,   the  town,   553.     See   Sahem 

ej  -  Jaulan  ;     Golan    district.      See 

Jaulan. 
Gomorrah,  5^5 /•  5  overthrow  of,  508. 
Gophna,    a   stronghold   of    Samaria, 

351  ;  roads,  211,  290. 
Gospel,  first  spread  of  the,  37. 
Grain  in  Syria,  83  ;  in  Hauran,  612  f. 
Greece  and  Palestine  contrasted,  133. 
Greece    over    Jordan,    chap,    xxviii. ; 

the    Decapolis,     settlements     over 

Jordan,  593. 


Greeks,  10 ;  region  covered  by,  55  ; 
beginning  of  their  immigration  with 
Alexander,  593. 

Greek  Church  in  Syria,  39  n. 

Greek  cities,  enfranchised  by  Pompey, 
594  ;  rights  of,  under  Rome,  594  ; 
administration  of,  595 ;  confeder- 
acies of,  595.     See  Hellenism. 

Hadad-rimmon,  389,  400. 

Hadid,  160. 

Hail,  64. 

Hammath,  450. 

Hajj  road,  45,  537,  647/,  etc. 

Half-Gilead,  548,  553. 

Ha-Mishor,  53,  548,  553. 

Hannibal,  meaning  of  name,  24  ;  the 
Great,  25. 

Hamilcar  crossed  Straits  of  Gibraltar, 
24. 

Harbours  of  Syria,  128  ^;  of  Da- 
mascus, 426. 

Harithiyeh  or  Harosheth,  393. 

Harod,  well  of,  397yi 

Harosheth,  393. 

HasmoneansinMoab,  568;  in  Gilead, 

588if. 

Ilattin,  battle  of,  441. 

Hauran,  536,  552 ;  larger,  536  ; 
proper,  536,  553  ;  Mutasseraflik  of, 
553;  (Ezekiel),_  552  /;  and  its 
cities,  chap,  xxix;  civilisation  of 
Hauran  and  Decapolis,  611;  descrip- 
tion of,  612  ;  its  harvests,  612  ;  its 
treelessness,  613  ;  its  black  cities, 
614;  and  Harmon, 615;  comingofthe 
Romans  to,  616  ;  Herod  the  Great 
in,  617 ;  history  of,  618  ;  Philip 
the  Tetrarch,  618  ;  Herod  Agrippa, 
619;  conversion  of  St.  Paul,  619; 
interval  of  Roman  rule,  621  ; 
Agrippa  li. ,  622  ;  the  new  Province 
of  Arabia,  623  ;  Roman  civilisation 
in,  624^;  Roman  roads  in,  626; 
Roman  frontier,  626  ;  Semitic 
elements  in,  627  ;  Nabatean  deities 
in,  628  ;  architecture  of,  629;  early 
Christianity  in,  38,  631  ;  origin  and 
the  Synod  of  Bosra,  632  ;  persecu- 
tions and  martyrs,  632  ;  triumph  of 
Christ  in,  633  ;  contrast  of  Pagan 
and  Christian  inscriptions  in,  38, 
634  ;  epitaphs  in,  635  ;  dioceses  of 
the    church,    636 ;    churches    and 


Index 


679 


other  buildings  in,  636  ;  overthrow 

of  Christianity  in,  637. 
Havoth-Jair,  551/.,  577  n. 
Ilazezon-Tamar,  271,  5°^/* 
Hazor,  393,  423. 
Hebron,  119,  231,  271/.,  317. 
Hellenism,  at  home  in  Syria,  16  ;  and 

Israel,  34  ;  in  time  of  Christ,  35  ; 

in    Philistia,    179,    188,    192  ;    and 

Christianity,  chap,  xi.;  in  Eastern 

Palestine,  chap,  xxviii.  f. 
Herod  the  Great  in  Western  Palestine, 

13S/.  165,  192  n.  2,  266  n.  4,  293, 

34Si^,  353./.  490.  512,  514/;  in 
Eastern  Palestine,  4S8,  569,  595, 
617,  618. 

Herod  Agrippa.     See  Agrippa  i. 

Herod  Antipas,  and  Tiberias,  448  ; 
and  Machaerus,  569 ;  murder  of 
John  Baptist,  570. 

Herodium,  273. 

Hermon,  121  ;  plural  name  Hermons, 
476  f.  n.  I  ;  and  the  Iturceans, 
544/;  and  the 'Mount  of  Bashan,' 
550  ;  and  Hauran,  615  ;  and  Da- 
mascus, 642.     See  Appendix  I. 

Heshbon  or  Essebon,  571. 

Hilarion,  239  n.  I,  240  n.  5,  etc. 

*  Hill-country,'  53. 

Hippos,  459,  594,  597,  599,  602. 

Historical  geography  of  Syria,  sum- 
mary of,  5. 

Hittites,  10,  12,  14. 

Hivites,  58,  59. 

Homoncea,  455  n.  3. 

Horites,  221  n.  3. 

Huleh,  481. 

Idum^a,  239/ 

Idumceans,  9. 

Immigrations,  i;  Arabian,  8  ;  Syrian, 
Philistine,  Hebrew,  9  ;  Greek,  593. 

Incarnation,  the,  114. 

Inscriptions,  authorities  upon,  15  11. 
I  ;  Greek  and  Latin  in  Eastern 
Pajestine,  chaps,  xxviii.,  xxix. ;  Na- 
batean,  chap.  xxix. 

Invasions,  of  Syria,  6,  7,  12,  13,  128  ; 
their  main  directions,  6  ;  value  of, 
13  ;  ceaselessness,  9  ;  impressions 
on  monuments,  13,  14  ;  in  litera- 
ture,    14 ;    of    Eastern    Palestine, 

525/: 
Irbid.     See  Arbeia. 


Isaac,  sacrifice  of,  334  ;/.  2. 

Islands  of  Mediterranean,  22  ;  spread 
of  gospel  to,  37. 

•  Isles,  the,'  135  jfi 

Israel's,  origin  and  calling,  %iff.',  in 
the  desert  and  in  Syria,  85  ;  in- 
vasion of  Eastern  Palestine,  chap, 
xxvi. ;  passage  of  the  Arnon,  557  ; 
war  against  Sihon,  560;  passage  of 
'  the  Plateau,'  561  ;  war  with 
Midian,  566  ;  war  with  Og,  575/; 
crossing  of  Jordan,  275/;  settle- 
ment on  Western  Palestine,  277_^; 
relations  to  Philistia,  175  ;  to 
Phoenicia,  26 ;  uniqueness  of  her 
Monotheism,  30  ;  its  reason,  32  ; 
revelation,  33  ;  relations  with  Hel- 
lenism, 34,  chaps,  xxviii.,  xxix.; 
Israel  in  Gilead  and  Bashan,  chap, 
xxvii. 

Issachar,  blessing  of,  3S3. 

Isthmus  of  Suez,  7,  8. 

Iturseans,  544 _^. 

Iturcea,  544. 

JABBOK,  121,  533/,  535,  539,  5S5. 

Jabneh  or  Jabniel,  193. 

Jaffa.     See  Joppa. 

Jacob's  Well,  123,  334,  chap,  xviii. 

jahalin  Arabs,  273  n.,  etc. 

Jahaz,  559. 

jarmuk.     See  Yarmuk. 

Jarmuth,  202  n.  i. 

Jaulan,  444  n.  2,  536,  553. 

Javan,  136. 

Jebel  'Aswad,  533. 

Jebel  es  Sih,  416  ;/.  3. 

Jebel  Hauran  or  Druz,  534,  536  f. 
553.  613  n.,  619,  etc. 

Jebel  Jela'ad,  54. 

Jebel  Usdum,  507,  514. 

jedur,  427,  544. 

Jelil,  175  n.     See  413  and  415. 

Jenin,  356,  374,  3S1/: 

Jerusalem,  1 19/. ;  approaches  to,  161, 
205,  210  ff.,  218,  226/,  263^, 
290  ff.;  m.ilitary  strength,  297, 
302  ;  not  a  natural  site  for  a  great 
city,  319;  her  greatness,  320;  fall  of, 
to  the  Romans,  299 ;  to  Mohamme- 
danism, 38,  299  ;  modern  pilgrims 
to,  39 ;  disfigurement  of  modern, 
40  ;  Latin  kingdom  of,  17,  123. 

Jeruel,  wilderness  of,  272. 


68o   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


Jerahmeelites,  278  w.,  286. 

Jeremiah  and  the  desert,  315. 

Jericho,  266_^ 

Jesus  Christ,  Hellenism  of  the  age  in 
which  He  lived,  35  ;  His  judgment 
of  Israel,  36  ;  His  claims  for  Him- 
self, 36 ;  His  views  of  Gentile 
world,  36 ;  His  gospel,  36  ;  and  the 
worship  of  Augustus,  478;  chaps. 
XX.  xxi. 

Jeshimon,  513. 

Jezreel,  356  ;  view  from,  381  ;  Vale 

of,  53.  384- 

Jezebel,  27. 

Jisr-BenatYakob  Bridge  of  the  daugh- 
ters of  Jacob,  427,  429  «.,  492  n.  i. 

Jisr-el-Mujamia,  428  n. 

Jogbehah  and  Succoth,  585. 

John  Hyrcanus  in  Samaria,  347  n.  6  ; 
Bethshan,  358  n.  2  ;  conquest  of 
Galilee,  414. 

John  the  Baptist,  murder  of,  570. 

Jonathan,  son  of  Saul,  291,  403  jf". 

Jonathan  Maccabeus,  291,  423,  514. 

Joppa,  121,  136^;  and  the  Macca- 
bees, 136. 

Jordan,  the,  47,  121  ;  natural  unique- 
ness of,  467  ;  historical  uniqueness 
of,  467  ;  sources  of  upper,  471  ; 
military  history  of  upper,  479  ;  the 
pride  of,  484  ;  the  river-bed,  485  ; 
in  the  Old  Testament,  421  ;  as  a 
military  frontier,  491  ;  Elijah  and 
Elisha  on,  493  ;  John  the  Baptist 
on,  495  ;  fords  of,  337  ;  over  Jor- 
dan, chap.  xxiv. 

Jordan  Valley,  5,  8,  46,  54,  chap, 
xxii. ;  formation  of,  469  ;  divisions 
of,  471;  the  upper,  471 ;  the  lower, 
482 ;  fertility  and  population  of, 
487  ;  heat  of,  489  ;  wild  beasts  of, 
490  ;  the  Arabs  in,  490. 

Joshua,  historical  reality  of,  274  n.  I. 
See  Appendix  II. ;  in  the  Shephelah, 
215  ;  with  Ephraim  and  Manasseh, 

577  «•  I- 
Judah,    mount,    53 ;    entrance    into 

land,    277  ;    and    the    Canaanites, 

289. 
Judsea,  4  ;  borders  and  bulwarks  of, 

chap.     xiii.  ;     seclusion    of,     259  ; 

smallness    of,    260 ;    her    borders, 

261  ;  and  Moab,  a  contrast,   262  ; 

wilderness  of,  263  ;  western  defiles, 


287  ;  invaders  of,  288 ;  western 
boundary  of,  286  ;  northern  border, 
289 ;  as  a  frontier,  290 ;  fortresses 
of,  291  ;  invasions  of,  291  ;  real 
strength  of,  297  ;  not  impregnable 
but  insular,  297;  difficult  to  occupy, 
298  ;  tactics  of  Vespasian  and 
Saladin,  298 ;  moral  effects  of 
position  of,  299;  illustrated  from  the 
Prophets  and  Psalms,  300  ;  table- 
land, 305  ;  featurelessness  of,  307  ; 
Old  Testament  pictures  of,  308  ;  a 
land  of  shepherds,  310;  neighbour 
to  the  desert,  312  ;  wilderness  of, 
313 ;  wilderness  of,  as  a  refuge,  316  ; 
unfitness  for  growth  of  a  city,  317  ; 
John  the  Baptist  in,  317  ;  our  Lord 
in,  317  ;  no  great  roads  in,  319. 

Judsea  and  Samaria,  their  frontier, 
247  j^;  a  contrast,  323. 

Judcea  and  Galilee  contrasted,  418. 

Judas,  the  Galilean,  421  n.  6. 

Judas  Maccabeus  in  the  Shephelah, 
215  /. ;  in  Bethshan,  358  ;  in 
Eastern  Palestine,  588/,  599. 

Jufna.     See  Gophna. 

Julias,  Bethsaida-Julias,  457. 

Julias,  or  Beth-Haram,  4S8. 


Kakon,  on  the  Maritime  Plain,  154 ; 
Napoleon's  battle  there,  id.  ;  a 
stronghold  of  Samaria,  350. 

Kanata,  600. 

Kanatha,  599,  600  71.  2,  602. 

Kaphtor,  or  Crete,  135  ;  not  the 
Delta,  170,  198  ;  original  seat  of 
Philistines,  170  /.,  with  notes; 
according  to  some,  eastern  coast  of 
^gean,  198. 

Kapitolias,  600. 

Kaphethra,  299  «. 

Kedemoth,  wilderness  of,  559. 

Kefar     Hananyah     or    Kefr    Anan, 

417  71. 

Kefr  Outheni,  256,  «.  i. 

Kefr  Saba,  154,  165. 

Ke'ilah,  230. 

Kenites,  277,  2S1,  71.  6,  393. 

Kephar-Nahum,  456,  «.  2. 

Kepherabis,  299  11. 

Kerak  on  Lake  of  Galilee,  452^- 

Kerak  or  Krak,  in  Moab,  537,  w.  3. 

Khan  el  Ahmar,  265. 


Index 


68i 


Khan-Minyeh,  origin  and  meaning 
of  name,  456,  n.  i  ;  probably 
Capernaum,  456. 

Kharitun,  229,  n.  i. 

Kharesmians,  the,  12,  n.  6. 

Kikkar  of  the  Jordan,  505. 

Kiriath    Jearim,    225 ;     Baal-Judah, 

276,  317-  . 
Kinathaim,  in  Moab,  567,  n.  i  ;  568, 

n.  I, 
Kishon,  382,  3S7  «.,  3S8  n.  ;  battle 

of,  394. 
Kition,  22  «.,  135. 
Korea  or   Kuriyat,  a  stronghold   of 

Samaria,  352^! 
Kuamon,  406. 
Kuneitra,  427,  n.  i.,  536. 
Kurds  in  Syria,  1 1  ;  in  Lebanon  and 

Damascus,  647. 
Kypros,  267  «. 


Labrush,  Khurbet,  506,  «.  6. 

Lachish,  234. 

Lake  of  Galilee,  the,  chap.  xxi.  ;  the 

focus  of  the  province,  439 ;    way 

down  to,  440  ;  atmosphere  of,  441  ; 

functions  of,  442  ;  shape  of,  443  ; 

aspect  of  (to-day),  445  ;  aspect  of 

(in  our  Lord's  time),  446 ;   cities 

round,  447  ;  Jordan  valley  at,  46. 
Lake  Huleh,  481  ;  Jordan  valley  at, 

46. 
Land  of  Tob,  the,  587. 
Latrun  or  Turon,  214. 
Lebanons,  focus  of  Syria,  45  ;  refui^e 

of  Christians,   38  ;    rivers   of,  46 ; 

mountain  ranges  of,   47  ;    distinct 

from  Galilee,  55,  50,  642. 
Lebanon  and  Galilee,  417. 
Legio,  407.     See  Lejjun. 
Leja,    528,    11.    2,    537 ;     equal    to 

Trachon,    543;    not   Argob,    551, 

553  ;  description  of,  615/;  history, 

617/: 
Lejjun,  151,  380,  386;  and  Megiddo, 

387,  n.    I.  ;  Josiah's  defeat,  405/!; 

and   the    Romans,   407 ;    and   the 

Crusaders,  386. 
Limen  and  El  Mineh,  129. 
Levant,  3,  7,  45. 
Lezka,  Kh.,  236  «. 
Litany,  46. 
Livias,  4S8  n.     See  Julias  in  Perea. 


Lydda,  ido  jf. 

Lysanias,  tetrarchy  of,  547. 


Ma'achah,  548  n.  9,  553. 
Maccabees,  devotion  to  the  law,  34  ; 

conflict  with  Hellenism,  34,   179  ; 

in  the  Shephelah,  212/.  ;  and  the 

Samaritans,  254 ;  in  Jericho,  268  ; 

in  the    western   defiles   of  Judah, 

28S ;     in    Benjamin,    291   f.  ;    in 

Samaria,  347  ;  in  Esdraelon,  407  ; 

in  Galilee,  423  ;  on  Jordan,  491  ; 

on  Masada,  514;    in  Moab,  568; 

in  Gilead  and  Bashan,  588/. 
Machasrus,  fortress  of,  569 ;  and  the 

Herods,  569 ;  and  John's  murder, 

570. 
Machir,  392  n.  4. 
Ma'en,  183,  214. 
Magdala,  456;  is  it  Taricheae?  452 

n.  I. 
Maged,  5S9. 
Mahanaim,  335  «.,  586. 
Makkedah,  211  «.  I. 
Maksurah,  623  n.  4. 
Manasseh,   half-tribe  of,   577 ;    their 

settlement   in    Eastern    Palestine, 

577  «•  I- 

Maon,  306,  317. 

]Mareshah,  233. 

Maritime  Plain,  the,  49,  50 ;  or 
Daroma,  52,  148,  54,  55,  ch.  viii.  ; 
its  beauty,  149 ;  openness  to  south, 
149  ;  to  north,  150  ^.  ;  its  roads, 
153;  defences,  154;  campaigns, 
155  ;  openness  to  plague,  157  ;  its 
cities,  \6o  ff. 

IMarna,  iSo,  188. 

Marneion,  or  House  of  Mama,  187. 

Maronites,  39  n. 

Masada,  273,  512^.  ;  position  of, 
512;  history  of,  514;  buildings 
on,  514  ;  massacre  of,  515. 

Maspha,  589. 

Mattanah,  561. 

Mecca,  647/. 

Medeba,  567  n.  5  ;  plateau  of,  548. 

Mediterranean,  Syria's  gateway  to 
the  west,  6,  21  ;  islands  and  coasts 
of,  22,  135,  170  7in.  3  and  4  ;  and 
Damascus,  426,  643  ;  and  Galilee, 
428,  429. 

Megiddo  town,  386  ;  Lejjun  and  not 


682   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


Mujedda,  387  n.  i  ;  battle  of,  406  ; 

plain  of,  53,  385  ;  waters  of,  386. 
Mejdel.     See  Magdala. 
Melchites  or  Greek  Catholics,  40  n, 
Mellaha,  454  n.  i. 
Merla  or  La  Merle,  130. 
Merj  el  Ghuruk,  327. 
Mesha    and    'the    Moabite     Stone,' 

567- 

Meshech,  136. 

Michmash,  178  n.  i,  250,  291. 

Midianites,  8,  9  ;  in  Samaria,  329  ; 
in  Esdraelon,  385,  397 #;  in  East- 
ern Palestine,  525,  566;  Gideon's 
pursuit  of,  579,  585. 

Mirabel,  214. 

Mishor,  the,  53,  548,  553. 

Missions  and  Mohammedanism,  41  ; 
in  Syria,  39,  40,  41. 

Mizar  or  Mis-'ar,  476. 

Mists,  65  ;  frequency  of  morning 
mists  in  Eastern  Palestine,  520. 

Mizpeh  or  Neby  Samwil,  120. 

Mizpeh  of  Gilead,  586,  589. 

Moab  and  the  coming  of  Israel,  chap. 
xxvi.  ;  mountain  table-land  of,  48, 
S3,  548  ;  Hasmoneans  in,  568. 

Moabite   Stone,    the,    geography   of, 

567- 

Modein,  212. 

Mohammedanism,  rise  of,  38 ;  and 
Christianity,  38,  115;  and  modern 
missions,  41  ;  extension  in  Eastern 
Palestine,  637  ;  to  Damascus,  648. 

Monotheism,  not  natural  to  Semites, 
29 ;  opportunity  for,  among  Semites, 
30;  uniqueness  of  Israel's,  30; 
reason  of,  32 ;  marvel  of,  90,  113. 

Mons  Aseldamus,  550,  553. 

Mont  Gisard,  214/. 

Moses,  wells  of,  564 ;  burial  of,  565. 

Mount  Bashan,  550. 

Mount  Ebal,  view  from,  chap.  vi.  ; 
central  position,  332;  mentioned  in 
Deuteronomy  as  central  sanctuary, 

333/ 
Mount  Ephraim,  47,    53,   247,  325, 

652,  653  ;   western  flank  of,  326  ; 

eastern  flank  of,  326 ;  central  plains 

of,  327. 
Mount  Gilboa,  397  n.  2;   battle  of, 

402  #. 
Mount    Gilead,    48,    53>    52i,    549; 

history,  chap,  xxvii. 


Mount  Hermon,  head  of  Eastern 
range,  48.     See  Hermon. 

Mount  Judah,  53,  652. 

Naphtali,  53,  652. 

• of  the  Amorite,  53,  652. 

of  the  'Abarim,  53,  653. 

Atabyrus,  22  n. 

■ Tabor,  394,  408  ;  and  Hermon, 

417. 

Taurus,  3,  7,  12,  45  ;  a  barrier, 

21. 

Mountains,  47  ;  central  range,  48  ; 
eastern  range ,  48 ;  Druz  moun- 
tain, or  Jebel  Druz,  48,  55  ;  of 
the  'Abarim,  53  ;  and  plain,  53. 

Mukhalid,  130  n.  3. 

Mukhneh,  the  plain,  327. 

Musmieh.    See  Phaena  in  the  Lejjah. 

Nabateans  and  Gaza,  184;  their 
territory,  547,  620/.,  623;  con- 
quer Moab,  568  ;  relations  to  Mac- 
cabees, 568  n.  4;  to  Herod  Antipas, 
569 ;  to  Decapolis,  596 ;  to 
Hauran,  616  J^.  ;  to  Damascus, 
619 ;  to  Philip's  tetrarchy,  619  ; 
to  kingdom  of  Agrippas,  621  /.  ; 
their  inscriptions,  621,  624;  their 
deities,  628 ;  their  conquest  by 
Rome,  623. 

Nablus,  119,  120;  Shechem,  332/., 
345/  ;  not  Sychar,  368_^.  ;  seat  of 
government  for  the  Belka',  535. 

Nahaliel,  561. 

Naphtali,  53,  392,  420,  422,  424. 
See  Mount  Naphtali. 

Napoleon,  invasion  of  Syria,  13,  19 ; 
on  the  geographical  accuracy  of  the 
Bible,  107, 154;  captures  Gaza,  184; 
passage  of  Carmel,  1^0  ff.,  389; 
description  of  Carmel  and  its  mili- 
tary value,  150  /  ;  march  over 
Sharon,  154,  156  ;  attacked  hereby 
the  plague,  158,  159  n.  i  ;  victory 
of  Mount  Tabor,  395/ ;  retreat  from 
Esdraelon,  409. 

Native  churches  in  Syria,  39  n. 

Nazareth,  432  ;  central  position  of, 
432  ;  boyhood  of  Jesus  at,  433. 

Nebaioth,  probably  the  same  as 
Nabateans,  547  n.  2. 

Nebo,  Mount,  and  Pisgah,  564^,567. 

Nebo,  Town,  564  n.  i,  567  «.  I, 
568  n.  I. 


Index 


68 


Neby  Musa,  265  n  3. 

Neby  Samwil,  1 20. 

Negeb,  the,  49,  50,  52,  278^.  ;  the 
I  name,  278 ;  as  a  frontier,  281  ;  its 

i  main  road,  282  ;  its  towns,  285/. 

Nero,  coin  of,  for  Coesarea  Fhilippi, 

475/  .  .     . 

Neronias,  title  of  Ccesarea   Phihppi, 

475- 
Nile,    6 ;    compared   and   contrasted 

with  Jordan,  467^  ;  efTect  of  Nile 

mud  on  Syrian  coast,  128. 
Nob,  253  w.  4. 
Nobah,  north-east  of  Heshbon,  560 

n.  3. 

who  took  Kanatha,  579  «.  3. 

Nysa,  363. 

Og,  King  of  Bashan,  575. 

Olive,     cultivation     of,    Si    y.  ;     in 

Gahlee,  419. 
Ono,  160,  253. 
'Ophni.     See  Gophna. 
Origen's   two   visits   to   the   East  of 

Jordan,  Synod  of  Bosra,  632. 
Orontes,  46  ;  contrasted  with  Jordan, 

493- 
Oshah,  425. 

Oultre-Jourdain,  537  «.  3,  553. 
Over-Jordan,  553. 

F  Palestine,  history  of  the  name,  3/. ; 
a  sanctuary,  112;  an  observatory, 
112  ;  a  land  of  tribes,  58  ;  size  of, 
123  ;  and  Greece,  133  ;  Eastern, 
ch.  xxiv. -XXX. 

Palaistine,  4. 

Palmer,  507  w. 

Pan,  worship  of,  474  ;  coins  of,  475. 

Paneas,  473. 

to  Dan,  480. 

Parthians,  12,  514. 
I         Pelesheth,  169  ;/.  I,  52. 

Pella,  593,  597,  599,  602. 

Penuel,  585. 

Persea,  539,  553  ;  Jesus  in,  540. 

Persian  Gulf,  7. 

Persian  invasion  of  Palestine,  12. 

Phaena  or  Musmieh,  in  the  Lejjah, 
529. 

Philadelphia,  593,  598,  599,  602,  605. 

Philistia,  4,  52,  ch.  ix.  ;  relations  of 
Israel  and,  175  ;  Greek  influence 
upon,  179  ;  in  Christian  times,  180. 


Philistine  cities,  ch.  ix.,  181^.;  their 

league,  169. 
Philistines,  10,  55,  ch.  ix. ;  name  and 

origin,  169/".,   197  n.  ;  language, 

172;  religion,  173;  appearance  in 

Canaan,   173  ;  contact  with  Israel, 

175 ;    parallel   between   them   and 

Israelites,  175  ;  difference,  176. 
Philip  the  Tetrarch,  475,  618/. 
Philip,  tetrarchy  of,  540,  553,  618. 
Philoteria,  455. 

Phoenicia,  5  ;  Israel  and,  26,  12"]  ff. 
Phoenician     voyages,     22,     25,     27  ; 

emigrations,    23,    24 ;    under    the 

Romans,    25 ;    Greek    loan-words, 

23  n. 
Pilgrims,  literature,  18  ;  and  traders, 

18  ;  use  of  railroad,  20  ;  407. 
Pisgah   and   Nebo,    562 ;    the   name, 

564  «.  I ;  connection  with  Feshkah, 

564  n.  I. 
Plague,    the,   in    Palestine,    157  ^  ; 

origin  in  Egypt,  ISI  ff-  ;  historical 

instances,  \^1  ff. 
Plain,  cities  of  the,  505^. 
Plains,  54. 

Plans,  fortress  of,  214. 
Plateau,     the,    Israel's    passage    of, 

561  ;  the  edge  of,  562. 
Pompey,  13  ;  capture  of  Jericho,  268; 

capture  of  Jerusalem,  292  ;  advance 

through  Samaria,  292,  353    n.    5 ; 

in     Damascus,      590,      616 ;     and 

Decapolis,  594,  596,  606. 
Population   of    Syria,    8 ;    tribal,    8; 

Semitic,  lO. 
Porphyry,  Bishop  of  Gaza,  181. 
Protestant  Missions,  40  n. 
Ptolemies,  wars  of,   13  ;   records  left 

by,  14,  184  ;/.  3,  347,  407,  414- 
Ptolemais  or  Acre,    380,  414  «.    2, 

424,  433,  60S. 
Ptolemy  Lathurus,  414  n.  4. 

Rabbath-Ammon,    20    «.    2,    593. 

See  Philadelphia. 
Rafia,  149. 
Railway,  lines  of,  20  ;  up  Sorek,  281 ; 

across  Esdraelon,  390  n.  2,  668. 
Rains  and  rainfall  in  Palestine,  63^. ; 

early  and  latter  rains,  64  ;  rains  in 

the  Negeb,  68 ;  rainfall  at  Jerusalem 

and  Nazareth,  76  «. 
Rakkath,  447. 


684   The  Historical  Geogj^aphy  of  the  Holy  Land 


Kamah,  in  Mount  Ephraim,  254  n.  7. 

Ramath-Mizpeh  and  Ramoth-Gilead, 
5S6. 

Ramathaim,  254  ii.  7. 

Rameh,  416  11.  3. 

Rametha,  sSSjf. 

Ramleh,  165. 

Ramoth-Gilead  and  Ramath-Mizpeh, 
5S6. 

Raphana,  599. 

Records,  literature,  13  ;  monuments, 
13;  coins,  15;  Egyptian  and 
Assyrian,  14 ;  of  Antiochi  and 
Ptolemies,  14  ;  Greek  and  Roman, 
14  ;  early  Christian',  16. 

Red  Sea,  7. 

Remtheh,  587. 

Renan's  Thesis  about  Monotheism,  30. 

Rephaim,  Vale  of,  218. 

Reseph,  129  nn.  i  and  3. 

Revelation  in  the  Old  Testament,  33. 

Reuben  and  Gad,  their  territories, 
566. 

Rhodes,  22,  135. 

Richard  I.  of  England,  passage  of 
Carmel,  150  ;  at  Caesarea,  144;  on 
the  coast,  12S;  at  Lydda,  163;  in 
the  Shephelah,  zi^ff-,  227,  234/. 

Roads,  Roman,  232,  626  ;  of  the 
Maritime  Plain,  149-154;  injudrea, 
263^.;  fromJericho,264;  from  'Ain 
Feshkah,  265  ;  from  Engedi,  269, 
271;  in  Negeb,  2S2 ;  in  Samaria, 
351  ;  by  Sychar,  374  ;  in  Esdrae- 
lon,  388  jf.  ;  of  Gahlee,  425  ;  their 
routes,  426  ;  Way  of  the  Sea,  428  ; 
Great  South  Road,  429;  Great  East 
Road,  430 ;  and  parables  of  Jesus, 
430;  in  Eastern  Palestine,  S9Tff., 
626. 

Rodan  and  Rodanim.     See  Rhodes. 

Romans,  tactics  of,  in  Palestine,  55, 
29S  ;  power  of,  515;  organisation 
of  the  frontier,  623-628.  See  Roads. 

Romish  Missions  in  Syria,  40. 

Rubin  river,  in  Philistia,  128  n.  i, 
131  ;  harbour,  13 1. 

Ruwalla,  the,  lO. 

Sahem-ej-Jaulax,  536. 

Saladin,   154,  209,  213^,   217,  293, 

299,  359- 
Salkhat,  619,  626,  629,  637. 
Salt,    30S   n.,    536 ;    the   Crusaders, 


538  It.  ;  probably  an  ancient  site, 
587.. 

Samaria,  the  Province  and  Kingdom, 
contrast  to  Judrea,  323  ;  their 
frontier,  247^. ;  historical  memories 
of,  324  ;  borders  of,  324;  openness 
of,  328 ;  chariot-driving  in,  329 ; 
precocity  of,  331  ;  central  position 
of,  332 ;  connection  with  Eastern 
Palestine,  335 ;  connection  with 
Carmel,  337  ;  fortresses  of,  341, 
345  ff.  ;  roads  of,  351  ;  western 
strongholds  in,  350  ;  southern 
strongholds  in,  350 ;  eastern  frontier 
of,  354  ;  eastern  fortresses  of,  354  ; 
northern  fortresses  of,  355. 

Samaria,  city  of,  122  ;  site  and  name, 
346 ;  its  sieges,  347  ;  the  city  of 
Ahab  and  Herod,  348^ 

Samson,  220_^ 

S'asa,  427  n. 

Saul,  and  Philistines  on  Esdraelon, 
apoff. ;  death,  403 ;  elegy  on,  404/. 

Scenery  of  Palestine,  picturesqueness 
of,  93  ;  reflection  in  Israel's  litera- 
ture, 96  to  104. 

Scilly  Isles,  25. 

Scythopolis.  6'^^  Bethshan,  361,  597, 
599,  602;  origin  of  name,  36^/. 

Sebaste.     See  Samaria,  city  of. 

Segor  or  Zoar,  507  n, 

Seigneurie  of  Krak  and  Montreal, 
537  «• 

Seleucids,  wars,  13  ;  on  the  Maritime 
Plain,  154;  in  Judaea,  268,  28S  ; 
in  Samaria,  347  ;  on  Esdraelon, 
407  «.  I;  in  Galilee,  423/!  ;  in 
Eastern  Palestine,  529,  538,  5S8, 
593/. ;  in  Damascus,  647 ;  coins,  14. 

Selhab,  Plain,  327  «.  2. 

Semechonitis,  Lake,  481. 

Semites,  home,  5 ;  commerce,  5 ;  reli- 
gion, 5,  28^;  rd/e  in  history,  5  ;  out- 
goings of,  8  ;  religious  leaders  of 
humanity,  28  ;  temperament,  29. 

Seneh,  250  «.  4. 

Sennacherib's  campaign  in  Shephelah, 
235/  ;  army  struck  by  plague,  158. 

Sephatha,  233. 

Septimius  Severus  and  Lydda,  161 
«.  2  ;  and  Eleutheropolis,  232 ; 
roads,  Appendix  v. 

Serbonian  Bog,  157. 

Settlements,  European  in  Syria,   16, 


Index 


685 


17,  20 ;  German,  20 ;  Roman 
Catholic,  20;  Jewish,  20;  Circassian 
Greek,  20.     See  ch.  xxviii. 

Sha'ara,  Plain,  440  n. 

Shaphram,  425. 

Sharon,  Plain  of,  5,  52,  122,  147/. 

Sharon  in  Eastern  Palestine,  548. 

Shechem,  119,  332.     5«^  Nablus. 

importance  of,  330. 

Shefa  'Amr,  425  n.  I. 

Shcphclah,  the,  chaps,  x.,  xii.,49y. ; 
meaning  of  the  name,  202  ;  divi- 
sion between,  and  Judaea,  205  ; 
general  aspect  of,  207  ;  valleys  of, 
209^.;  in  the  Old  Testament,  210  ; 
with  the  Romans,  211  ;  with  the 
Maccabees,  2\if.;  in  the  Crusades, 
213/.  ;  and  Richard  i.,  214,  235  ; 
Josliua  in,  215  ;  David  in,  211, 
227  ff.  ;  Philistines  in,  223  ;  and 
Sennacherib,  235  ;  Christianity  of, 
239  ;  Apostles  on  the,  240 ;  mar- 
tyrs of,  241  ;  churches  of,  244. 

Shephelah  of  Israel,  33S,  653. 

Shiloh,  119,  224  «.  2. 

Shishak,  2S3  n.  6. 

Shocoh,  202  n.  I,  228/. 

Shunem,  400. 

Sicarii,  515. 

Siddim,  vale  of,  503. 

Sihon,  conquests  ot,  557 ;  war  with, 
559;  is  it  historical?  560.    App.  III. 

Silkworm,  cultivation  of,  20. 

Simeon,  entrance  into  land,  277  '■> 
territory  in  the  Negeb,  'Z'jZff. 

Sinjil,  St.  Giles,  a  Crusader  strong- 
hold of  Samaria,  352. 

Sinnabris,  453  n.  5,  454 ;  Ginnabris, 

4S3  W.   2. 

Snow  in  AYestern  Palestine,  64/! ;  in 

Eastern  Palestine,  520. 
Sodom,  505/.  ;  overthrow  of,  508. 
Soil  in  Palestine,  79. 
Solomon's  dominion  in  Eastern  Pales- 

580 ;  and  Tamar,  270  n.  2,  488. 
Sorek,  vale  of,  193  ;  position  of,  218; 

settlement  of  tribe  of  Dan,   220; 

battle  of,  223. 
Springs  in  Western  Palestine,  77;  in 

Eastern  Palestine,  521. 
Straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb,  8. 
Straits  of  Gibraltar,  24,  25. 
St.    Abraham,    Crusaders'   name   for 

Hebron,  272. 


St,  George  of  Lydda  and  of  England, 
162 ;  and  the  Dragon,  163  ; 
Mohammedan  legends  of,  164;  in 
Zoravaand  E.  Palestine,  634,  6^6/. 

Subbarin,  78  «.,  15 1. 

Succoth  and  Jogbehah,  5S5. 

Su'ele.     See  Es-Su'et. 

Sugar,  267  «. ,  487. 

Surtabeh,  353,  11.  5. 

Susiyeh  or  Hippos,  459. 

Suwete  or  Suhcte,  537  «.  3,  553. 

Syria,  invasions,  by  Israel,  6;  by 
Islam,  6,  12  ;  by  hope,  7  ;  by  Par- 
thians,  12 ;  by  Persians,  12  ;  by 
Turks,  12  ;  by  Mongols,  12  ;  popu- 
lation, 8  ;  tribal,  10 ;  Semitic, 
10 ;  immigrations,  6,  9  ;  broken 
into  provinces,  10  ;  disabled  from 
political  empire,  10 ;  relation  to 
the  three  continents,  1 1  ;  oppor- 
tunity westward,  21  ;  single  open- 
ing, 21  ;  cradle  of  monotheism, 
31  ;  and  Hellenism,  34  ;  place  in 
history,  chap.  I.  ;  boundaries,  3-7  ; 
name,  3,  4  ;  historical  geography 
of,  5  ;  position,  6  ;  spiritual  em- 
pire, 7  ;  western  outlook,  7  >  rela- 
tion to  Arabia,  7  j  debatable 
ground  between  Asia  and  Africa, 
and  between  these  and  Europe,  7  ; 
influence  westward,  7  ;  religion,  7  ; 
form  of  the  land,  45  ;  relation  to 
Arabia,  45  ;  distinction  from 
Arabia,  45  ;  barrier  to  the  desert, 
45  ;  influence  of  desert  upon,  46  ; 
brokenness  in  land,  55. 

Syriac  church,  40. 

Sychar,  chap,  xviii.  ;  position  of, 
367 _^  ;  name  of,  368_^. 

Ta'amirah  Arabs,  10. 

Taanach,  by  Megiddo,  386,  387  ?/.  i, 

389. 

Taanath  -  Shiloh,  a  stronghold  of 
Samaria,  355. 

Tabariyah  or  Tuberiyah,  official  dis- 
trict, 416  n.  I,  458  n.  6. 

Tabigha,  458. 

Tabor.     See  Mount  Tabor. 

Tadmor,  270. 

Taiyibeh,  the  city  of  Ephraim,  256, 
264  ft.  I,  325  n.  2,  352. 

Tamar,  270. 

Tanturah  or  Dor.     See  Dor. 


686   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


Tappuah,  202  n.  i. 

Tarichese,  451  ^  ;  us  position,  452  ; 

its  industries,  454. 
Tekoah,  wilderness  of,  272^".;  Amos' 

home,  314^  ;  city  of  Judah,  317. 
Tell  Deir  'Alia.     See  Succoth. 
Tell  el  'Ajjul,  153. 
Tell-el-Hesy.     See  Lachish. 
Tell-el-Kady,  472,  473  ;  probably  not 

Dan,  480. 
Tell-el-Kasis,  380/. 
Tell-el-Milh,  286  «.  2. 
Tell-es-Safi,  or  Safiyeh,  227. 
Tell-Keimun,  152  n.,  406  n.  5. 
Temperatures   in    Palestine,    69  ff.  ; 

their  extremes,  70  ;    mean  annual 

temperature  at  Jerusalem,  71  ;  some 

temperatures   at    Dhoheriyah,   68 ; 

in  Eastern  Palestine  and  on  Jordan, 

70,  489,  520. 
Temple  Christians,  19. 
Tetrarchy.      See   Philip   and   Herod 

Antipas. 
Thebez,    a   stronghold    of    Samaria, 

355- 
Tiberias,  447^  ;  foundation  of,  and 

date,   447  ;    position   of,   447  ff,  ; 

reason  of  its  endurance,  450  ;  our 

Lord  and,  449  ;  baths  of,  450. 
Tibnin,  426  n.  2. 
Timnath  Heres,  351,  n.  3. 
Tirzah,  a  stronghold  of  Samaria,  355, 
Tob,  the  land  of,  587. 
Trachonitis,  543,  553,  b\6  ff. 
Traders,  22  ;  routes,  22. 
Trees,  ^off. 
Tribes,  Arabian,  leave  pastoral  habits 

for    agricultural,     lO ;     submit    to 

settled  government,  10. 
Tubal,  136. 
Turks,  II. 
Tyre,  fall  of,  25. 

Umm  el  Jemal,  628  n.  3,  633. 
Umm-er-Resas,  568  n.  4,  569  n.  6. 
Umm-esh-Shukaf,  78  n. 
Umm  Sirah,  264  n.  I. 
Umm  Junia,  455  n.  3. 
Underground  cities  in  Eastern  Pales- 
tine, 528,  576. 

Vales,  list  of,  in  Palestine.  See  Ap- 
pendix I.  ;  a/so  Elah,  Jezreel, 
Berachah,  Ajalon,  etc. 


Valley  of  the  Smiths,  or  the  Crafts- 
men, 161  «.,  210  n.  4. 

of  Dead  Sea,  261. 

Vegetables  in  Palestine,  83. 

Vespasian,  campaign  of,  55 ;  his 
tactics  against  Jerusalem,  298  /.  ; 
on  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  452/". 

Vine,  cultivation  of,  20,  81  /.  ;  in 
Judah,  208  ff.  ;  in  Eastern  Pales- 
tine, 522. 

Volcanoes,  extinct,  48. 

Wady  'Abu  Duba,  291  n.  i, 

'Abu  Nar,  151  «.  2. 

'Ali,  206,  261,  287. 

'Amwas  or  'Abu  el  'Amis,  453. 

'Aujeh,  249. 

Deir  Baliit,  249. 

el  'Afranj,  231. 

el  Ghamik,  151  «.  2. 

el  Ghurab,  205,  219  n.  I. 

el  Hamam,  427. 

el  Hesy,  234. 

el  Ifjim,  326,  355. 

el  Kuf,  287  n.  I, 

en  Najil,  206/.,  219,  261  «  I. 

en  Nar,  511. 

es  Seba,  279. 

es  Sunt,  206,  226. 

es  Sur,  206. 

esh  Sha'ir,  346. 

et  Taiyibeh,  264  n.  I, 

Farah,    in    Samaria,    256 ;     in 

Judah,  291  «.  I. 

Ghuzzeh,  153. 

Hesban,  532. 

Ishar,  249. 

• Ismain,  2S7  ft.  I. 

Kaneh,  249,  657. 

• Kelt,  494  7t.  I. 

Khulil,  279. 

Maktul,  416  n. 

Mojib,  558. 

Nimr,  249. 

Samieh,  249. 

Sheria,  206. 

Surar,  218/,  2S7. 

Waleh,  561. 

Waziyeh,  427. 

Wesa,  151  «.  2. 

Yabis,  520. 

Zerka  Ma'in,  562,  571. 

Waheb,  559. 

Water,  inequality  of  distribution  of, 


Index 


687 


7S  ;    west  of  Jordan,  78  ;    east  of 

Jordan,  521. 
Wells  in  Western    Palestine,  78^, 

and  Appendix  i. 
'  Wells  of  Moses,'  564. 
Wilderness  of  Jud?ea,  263. 

of  Kedemoth,  559. 

Winds,  66 ;  west  wind,  66  ;  sirocco, 

67  ;  north  wind,  67  :  south  wind, 

67. 
Woodland,  So,  81. 

Yarmuk,  the,  48,  533,  534,  536,  538, 
54S ;    valley  of,    121  ;   battles   of, 

589- 
\  emen,  9. 


Zamaris,  618. 

Zanoah,  202  «. 

Zarthan  or  Sarthan,  488. 

Zebabdeh,  plain  of,  327,  n.  2. 

Zeboim,  291  n.  I. 

Zeboiim,  a  city  of  the  Plain,  505. 

Zenodorus,    475    n.     i,    546    w.     i, 

617^ 
Zered,  brook,  557. 
Zerka.     See  Jabbok. 

Ma'in,  562,  571. 

Ziph,  306  n.,  307  «.,  317  «. 
Ziz,  ascent  of,  272. 
Zoar,  505/ 
Zorah,  218. 
Zughar.     See  Zoar. 


INDEX   OF    AUTHORITIES 


Abulfeda,  17,  408  [159. 

Accotmi  of  Eiide7?uc  Plague  in  India, 

Acta  Sanctortun,  17,  180,  181. 

Addis,  87. 

Admiralty  Charts,  128, 

Allen,  15. 

Anderlind,  63,  41 S. 

Ankel,  63,  66,  67,  80,  128. 

Annals  of  Thothvics  III.,  152,    184, 

202. 
Antonius  de  Cremona,  182. 
Antoninus  Placentinus,  162,  182,  190. 
Aquila,  222. 
Archives  de  la  Societi  d' Orient  Latin, 

18. 
Arculf,  162,  456,  472. 
Arnulf,  372. 

Arrian,  4,  16,  182,  183,  18S. 
Asiatic  Review,  29. 
Assizes  of  Jerusalem,  m.  17. 
Augustine,  25. 

Bacchides,  288. 

Baethgart,  477. 

Baethgen,  550,  628,  629. 

Barclay,  6^,  "Ji. 

Baudissin,  334. 

Baumgarten,  157,  158. 

Benjamin  of  Tudela,  190,  473. 

Bernard,  162,  441. 

Bernhardt,  182. 

Bertheau,  393. 

Bertrand,  19. 

Besant,  432. 

Beugnot,  18. 

Birch,  230,  506. 

Bliss,  40. 

Boettger,  354. 

Boha-ed-Dm,  17,  144,  163,  360,  397, 

408,  441. 
Bohn,  18. 


Bongars,  17. 

Bordeaux  Pilgrim,  385. 

Brocardus,  370. 

Brugsch,  153,  173,  191. 

Buckingham,  520,  599. 

Budde,  57,   174,  220,  221,  223,  277, 

351,  392,  400,  401,  577. 
Burckhardt,  29,  183,  337,  386,  500/, 

520/,  524,  526/,  529,  549,  558/., 

570,  599- 
Burton,  29. 

Cabriadus,     Dr.     Giovanni,     157, 

159- 
Csesar,  Bell.  Gall.,  337. 

Bell.  Afr.,  544. 

Carmoly,  18,  453. 

Cassius,  451. 

Chaplin,  63,  71,  224,  418. 

Chase,  546. 

Cheyne,  loi,  228,  405,477,  510,  550. 

Clermont-Ganneau,  15,  129,  164,  202, 

214,  224,  230,  235,  459,  507,  568, 

635- 

Colville,  159. 

Cotninentary  on  Isaiah,  180. 

Conder,  14,  18,  97,  129,  161,  165, 
170,  190,  195,  202/.,  214,  216,  220, 
222,  224,  226,  228,  230,  256,  286, 
307,  319.  346,  356,  369,371,  387/, 
394,  398,  401,  418,  432,  452/, 
456,  469,  471,  483  #,  488  ff., 
496,  503,  544,  551,  561/,  565/, 
570,  581,  585^,  etc. 

Conybeare  and  Howson,  620. 

Cooke,  393,  395,.  396. 

Corpus  Inscriptiomitn  Semitica7-u?}i, 
15,  22,  135,  547,  569,  628/ 

Council  of  Constantinople,  190. 

Council  of  Nice,  507. 

Cox,  18. 


Index  of  Authorities 


689 


Critical  Review,  622,  623,  625,  634, 

635- 
Cross,  367. 

Davidson,  Prof.  A.  B.,  393. 

Dawson,  468,  469,  470,  501,  509. 

De  Joiiiville,  17,  4S0. 

Delitzsch,  550. 

De  Saulcy,    14,    15,    140,    186,    187, 

214,    34S,    363,    448,    451,    475, 

506/,  513,  594,  5977-,  600,  605, 

623. 
De  Vogue,  18,  163,  618,  621,  6297. 
Dillmann,    170,  201,  334,  335,  393, 

420,  443,  551,   557,   559  /,   564, 

664. 
Diodorus    Siculus,    16,    22,  25,    157, 

184,  187,  266,  347,  482,  487,   501, 

538. 
Dion  Cassius,  545,  624. 
Dioscorides,  482. 
Discorso    sopra    il    Commercio    degli 

Italiani  nel  sec.  xtv.,  18. 
Doughty,  29,  183,  282,  547,  557,  631. 
Drake,  286. 
Driver,  233,  334,  393. 
Duhm,  no. 

Eastern  Palestine  and  the  Cru- 
sades, 537. 

Ebers,  170,  197,  452, 

Eckhel,  14. 

Epiphanius,  631,  632. 

Eusebius,  17,  38,  161,  162,  180,  181, 
188,  202,  203,  212,  239,  241,  270, 
285,  291,  347,  351,  362,  369,  386, 
474,  488,  542  /.,  546,  581,  598, 
631/ 

Ewald,  223,  420. 

Ewing,  449,  627,  632,  635,  etc. 

Felix  Fabri,  128,  165,  319,  473. 
Fetellus,  363,  370,  385,  473. 
Fischer  and  Guthe,  map,  537. 
Freeman,  24. 

Frei,  449,  452,  453,  454,  462. 
Furrer,  448,  452,  455/.,  458. 

Galen,  502,  507. 

Gardner,  14. 

Gatt,  182,  189. 

Geoffrey   de   Vinsauf,   17,  130,    148, 

150,  154,  156,  163,  214,  227,  235, 

388. 


Geogiapki  Grceci  Minores,  xxiv,  16, 
185,  187,  267,  362/.,  487. 

Gerusalemnie  Ltberata,  148. 

Cesenius,  20I,  364,  503,  506. 

Gibbon,  16,  157,  158. 

Glaisher,  63,  71. 

Gokiziher,  223. 

Gough,  14. 

Guerin,  128,  131,  164,  186,  190,  195, 
212,  214,  219,  222,  230,  243  /., 
432,  454,  456. 

Guthe,  189,  222,  392,  452,  550. 

Hai.mkndorf,  458. 

Hasselquist,  462. 

Henderson,    49,    58,   222,   226,   278, 

286,  319,  335,  388,  458,  551. 
Herodotus,  4,  16,  25,  159,  288,  363. 
Heyd,  18,  429. 
Hitzig,  171,  223,  337. 
Hollenberg,  277. 
Holtzmann,  458. 
Hohnes,  373. 
Horace,  267. 
Hull,  134,  207,  468 jf:,  501. 

Idrisi,  542. 

Imad-ed-Din,  17. 

Irby  and  Mangles'  Travels,  361. 

Isaac  Chilo,  456. 

Jacques  de  Vitry,  17. 

Jerome,  17,  161,  180,  188,  212,  231, 
239/.,  270,  285,  368,  3S8,  390, 
488,  581,  601. 

Jerusalem  Itinerary,  385,  398. 

John  d'Ibelin,  iS. 

John  of  Wurzburg,  370. 

Josephus,  4,  128,  137^,  148,  154, 
161,  165,  184  ff.,  189/,  192,  195, 
211/,  216,  222,  231,  233,  22,q/., 
250.  253^.,  264,  266  (f.,  270/., 
291,  293,  299,  329,  338,  346^5^, 
350,  352  #,  353>  354,  356,  358, 
359,  361,  363,  379,  390,  394,  405, 
407,  4I4#,  419,  421,  434,  442/., 
446,  448  /,  450  /?:,  471,  473,  4S1, 
483,  48S,  500,  501,  513,  525,  528, 
538/,  S^iff.,  544/,  547,  568  i?:, 
589,  594/,  59S/,  601,  606,  (-iTff. 

Justi,  404, 

Kasteren,  454. 
Kautsch,  664. 


2  X 


690   The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


Keim,  457,  570. 
Kitchener,  286,  452,  507. 
Kittel,  174,  201,  223,  277,  etc. 
Klostermann,  404. 
Knobel,  171,  201,  507,  510. 
Kuenen,  223,  393,  663,  etc. 

Lagarde,  289. 

Lamartine,  444,  460. 

Le  lias,  15. 

Leon  de  Lantsheeres,  14. 

Le  Strange,  143,  190,   192,  480,  486, 

487,  488,  506,  536,  598. 
Leusden,  569. 
Levy,  569. 
Lewin,  448. 
Light  foot,  569. 
Lortet,  442,  409,  502. 
Lucian,  335,  404. 
Ludovico  Vartema,  29. 
Lussac,  501. 
Lynch,  63,  69,  71,  337,  501/,  508. 

Macgregor,  441,  449,  481. 

Madden,  15. 

Marcet,  501. 

Marino  Sanuto,  388. 

Marta,  356. 

Maspero,  212,  283. 

Maundeville,  Sir  John,  372,  473. 

Maundrell,  373. 

Merrill,  15,  58,  421,  432,  443,  450, 

456,  462,  506,  520,   529,  543,  616, 

635. 
Mesha,  567. 
Meyer,  276,  277,  662. 
Miller,  97,  228,  300,  403. 
Milner,  224. 
Mionnet,  14. 
Mommsen,    15   /,    407,     595,     598, 

624. 
Moore,  279 
Mordtmann,  15. 
Muir,  359. 
Mukaddasi,  143. 
Mtiller,  W.  Max,  152,  172,  197/,  212, 

278,  283,  388. 
Murray,  Surg. -Gen.,  159. 
Murray's  Guide,  265. 

Napoleon,  19,  108,  151,  158,  390. 
Nasir-i-Khusrau,  143. 
Neander,  620. 
Nestle,  231. 


Neubauer,  52,    351,   419,   422,   425, 

443,  447,  454,  54°,  547,  etc. 
Notling,  471,  508,  510. 

Odyssey,  171. 
Olshausen,  550. 
Oliphant,  522,  528,  586. 
Onoiiiasticoii,  52,  161,   174,  195,  212, 

226,  230,  233,   252,  254,   34S,  472, 

473,  481,  488. 
Oort,  276,  392. 
Orelli,  223.  -    j 

Palestine  Exploration  Fund 
Memoir,  131,  140,  143, 152,  164/., 
182,  190,  222,  242,  327,  3S2,  419. 

Palestme  Exploration  Fund  Quar- 
terly, 14,  40,  63,  65,  67,  71,  1 88, 
190,  192,  2x6,  224,  226,  255,  283, 
286,  etc.  etc. 

Papyrus  Golenischift",  197  or  19S. 

Peschito,  the,  560. 

Peutinger  Tables,  281,  354,  599,  etc. 

Philippics,  544. 

Philo,  194.  _ 

Phocas,  163.  ■ 

Pietri  Delia  Valle,  18.  1 

Pliny,  16,  128,  131,  140,  157,  183, 
189,  266,  358,  363,  448,  452,  474/., 
487,  501,  538,  540,  547,  569,  596, 
599,  602. 

Plutarch,  170,  407. 

Polybius,  16,  184,  359,  361,  455, 
480,  487,  538,  594,  598. 

Porter,  374,  529,  551,  576,  599,  620, 
624. 

Post,  521,  529. 

Pressel,  267. 

Prutz,  9,  18,  233,  408,  413. 

Ptolemy,  16,  157,  189,  231,  270,  354, 
415,  458,  543,  550,  598. 

Pusey,  190. 

Quaresmius,    18,    214,    370,    457, 

481. 
Quintus  Curtius,  16,  183,  346. 

Ramsay,  544,  554. 

Raumer,  186. 

Records  of  the  Past,  14,   152,  192/., 

197,  216,  360. 
Recueil  d'Archeologie  Orientate,  217. 

See  Clermont-Ganneau. 
Reinach,  192. 


hidex  of  Authorities 


691 


Reland,  507,  544,  598,  600,  607,  624, 
etc. 

Rcnan,  404. 

Rendell  Harris,  15. 

Reports  of  German  and  English  Com- 
missions to  Astrakhan,  157,  159. 

Reuss,  335,  401. 

Rey,  18,  183,  214,  265,  267,  271/., 
360,  429,  487,  537,  etc. 

Reyland,  170,  362,  364,  45S. 

Keysshiuh  des  heiligen  Landes,  18. 

Riehm,  173. 

Ritter,  Carl,  113. 

Robertson  vSinith,  II,  22,  29,  34, 
393,  401,  474,  581. 

Robinson,  49,  63,  65,  67,  69,  78, 
163,  165,  182,  1S6,  195,  212,  226, 
231,  233,  243,  267,  271,  2S0,  286, 
326,  351/.,  361,  373,  3S8,  419, 
441/,  449/-,  454,  45^.  472,  474/., 
488,  500,  507,  544,  etc.  etc. 

Rohricht,  18,  148,  232,  234,  350, 
408. 

Ross,  20. 

Rowlands,  283. 

Ryie,  253. 

Saewulf,  372,  473. 

Sayce,  14,  170,  184,  360. 

Schenkel,  1 71. 

Schick,  189,  222,  287. 

Schlatter,  161,  253/.,  352,  539. 

Schmidt,  \Voldemar,  620. 

Schrader,  136,  169,  236. 

Schumacher,  416,  427,  432,  444,  447 
/.,  459,  4S6,  488,  536,  625,  634, 
etc. 

Schurer,  16,  18,  187,  255,  291,  347, 
352,  353,  354,  414,  422,  448,  449, 
452,  455,  456,  457,  474,  4S8,  545, 
593,  Coo,  607,  617,  620/.,  623,  etc. 

Scylax,  25,  129. 

Seetzen,  454,  520,  586,  600. 

Smith  (Chald.  Genesis),  319. 

Smith,  Eli,  243,  354. 

Socin,  II,  388,  452,  456,  etc. 

Socrates,  17,  285. 

Solms,  Graf  zu,  372. 

Sozomen,  17,  180,  188,  239,  262, 

Spiers,  452. 

Stade,  172,  174,  201,  223,  230,  236, 
274,  276,  285/,  346,  404,  567, 
577/.,  etc.,  especially  659^ 

Siegfried,  201,  279,  510. 


Stanley,    201,    311,    334,    403,    457, 

495- 
Stark,  188,  239/,  244,  347,  594. 
Stei)hanus  Byzantinus,  17,  363,  593, 

598,  607. 
Strabo,  16,  25,  128,  157,  183/,  187, 

193,  266,  353,  501,  510,  528,   543, 

545,  547,  586,  607,  619. 
Stubel,  chart,  537. 
Sybel,  18. 
Symmachus,  222. 
SynceUus,  363. 

Tacitus,   23,    171,   407,   421,   434, 

502,  510,  545. 
Tahn,  255. 
Talmud,  129,  141,  202  f.,  210,   212, 

256,  417,  419,  425,  443,  447,  454, 

456,  etc. 
Targums,  443,  etc. 
Tertullian,  628. 
Theodoret,  632. 
Theodorich,-  372. 
Theodosius,  488. 
Theophrastus,  482. 
Thomson,  231,  399,  458. 
Tobler,  18. 

Tomkins,  14,  318,  360. 
Transactions       of      Epidemiological 

Society,  157,  159. 
Transactions  of  the  Society  of  Biblical 

Archceoloi^y,  14. 
Travels  of  an  Egyptian,  152,  388  n. 
Trelawney  Saunders,   195,  207,  249, 

327,  388. 
Tristram,  58,  269/.,  441,  443,  456, 

462,  570,  etc. 
Trumbull,  280. 
Tuch,  593. 
Tuchem,  372. 

Uhlhorn,  632. 
Ulpien,  348. 

Vartan,  418. 
v..  de  Velde,  230. 
Volney,  158. 

Waddington,  15,  526,  547,  596, 
599/,  618/,  621,  624/;,  632^., 
636,  etc. 

Walsh,  19,  158. 

Warren,  211,  488. 


692    The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land 


Wellhausen,  29,  195,  274,  316,  327, 

393,  401,  577,  581,  663. 
Wetzstein,  15,  528,  538,  542/.,  550, 

576,  599/-,  624,  626,  etc. 
Westcott  and  Hort,  540,  542. 
Wieseler,  570. 
Wietzke,  223. 
William  of  Tyre,    17,   52,   156,  195, 

214,  233,  267,  360,  528. 
Williams,  371. 
Willibald,  162,  456,  472. 
Wilson,  224,  452,  456. 
Wittenberg,  223. 
Wittmann,  19,  63,  156,  158. 


Wright,  14,  387,  477. 
Zeitschrift       alt-Testamentli- 

CHER  WiSSENSCHAFT,  276,   etc. 

Zeitschrift  Deiitsches  Faldstinisches 
Verein,  14,  20,  63,  76,  131,  148, 
163,  182,  189,  214,  222,  287,   346, 

353.    4i3>     441,    449,    623,    etc. 

etc. 
Z.  D.  M.  G.,  628. 
Zosimus,  17. 
Zschokke,  267,  353. 
See  also  Appendix  IV.  for  Authorities 

on  Eastern  Palestine. 


Printed  by  T.  and  A.  Constable,  Printers  to  Her  Majesty 
at  the  Edinburgh  University  Press 


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